PATRAS PORT
For decades, POM have faced the brutality of public and private authorities in Patras, as
they risked their lives trying to get on trucks boarding ferries bound for Italy. Today, there
are currently around 200 POM in Patras living - or rather surviving - in deplorable conditions, with limited access to humanitarian assistance, at the mercy of smugglers and policy
In between the two stage barrier surrounding the Port and the restricted-access port facilities, patrolling activities
are carried out by ICTS Hellas, a private
security firm with deployments inside
the Port for over 10 years, and Greek
police. Both have received EU funding
since 2015.
At the passenger entry point where vehicles board the ferry, border authorities
and ICTS Hellas use canine units and
scanners to search for POM. Interviews
conducted by No Name Kitchen (NNK),
reveal unidentified actors wearing camouflage uniforms working alongside
these officers. An analysis of Patras
Port, the surrounding locality, and the
actors at play reveals a stratified logic
of violence against POM whose movements are brutally limited.
The reports collected show different levels
of violent action perpetrated by local police
officers, border authorities and personnel
of ICTS Hellas. The first, most immediate,
level of violence is largely “reactive” and
occurs the moment individuals enter the
Port space.