Crumbling Athens housing complex comes to life during economic crisis
canada goose clearance sale ATHENS (Reuters) It has been shelled, threatened with demolition and became such an eyesore canada goose outlet sale that it was covered by a massive sheet during the 2004 Athens Olympics, but a historic 1930s housing complex built for Greeks fleeing Turkey is a hive of activity again. canada goose clearance sale
canada goose A man is silhouetted speaking on the phone inside an apartment at the “Prosfygika” housing complex in Athens canada goose coats uk November canada goose outlet belgium 1, 2013. REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis canada goose
Canada Goose Jackets As Greece six year economic slump has increased the number of homeless canada goose outlet winnipeg to 20,000 in Athens alone, NGOs estimate, the complex has become a haven for squatters canada goose outlet 2015 and drug addicts as well as immigrants from Iran and elsewhere trying canada goose outlet los angeles to cross into northern Europe through Greece porous borders. Canada Goose Jackets
canada goose clearance Flat roofed and boxy, typical of the German Bauhaus school of design, the canada goose outlet us complex of eight housing blocs was considered architecturally canada goose outlet uk sale ahead of its time when it was built in the 1930s to house some of the 1.5 million Greeks who were displaced by a 1923 population exchange with Turkey after World War One. canada goose clearance
canada goose Today their descendants are struggling to cope with their new neighbours, reflecting broader social tensions in Greece, especially between locals and immigrants, that have intensified during recent years of economic hardship that forced Greece to require two international bailouts. canada goose
canada goose store people come and go, said 76 year old pensioner Yannis Chiotakis, one of about 30 remaining descendants of the canada goose clearance blocs original inhabitants, gesturing to a group of drug addicts roaming the streets. canada goose store
canada goose I can tolerate this. I pay for electricity, for water, for all these taxes and next canada goose jacket outlet door there someone who living for free? he said, referring to squatters. canada goose
canada goose clearance The complex is mostly state owned and its crumbling exterior has attracted critics who say the buildings do not belong on one of Athens busiest streets, between the capital police headquarters and the top court. But a 2008 decision declaring them a protected site means they cannot be torn down. canada goose clearance
buy canada goose jacket Preparing food from a soup kitchen over a donated stove in her cramped one bedroom apartment, Emine Kilic, a Turkish mother of 10, said the family began squatting in Prosfygika two years ago when her husband lost his job as a construction worker. buy canada goose jacket
canadian goose jacket Chrysoula canada goose outlet trillium parka black Charizanou, 76, a Greek owner of an apartment, poses inside her bedroom at the canada goose outlet ontario “Prosfygika” housing complex in Athens December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis canadian goose jacket
Canada Goose Parka had no choice. This is home now, she said. Canada Goose Parka
canada goose deals A few buildings down, a Greek couple driven from their Athens home because they could not afford rent during the recession are also squatting. canada goose deals
canada goose Nearby, two Iranian migrants play cards and sip tea, their cigarette smoke filling the room they share with about a dozen other canada goose outlet locations in toronto Iranians, all waiting to leave Greece for north European countries such as Norway, where they hope to find work. canada goose
canada goose coats on sale In 2001, the state bought all but 51 apartments in the complex whose owners refused to sell. But various renovation plans fell through over the years, including tearing down the complex to build a park or converting it into canada goose outlet usa guest houses for a cancer hospital. canada goose coats on sale
Canada Goose sale One woman who was born and has lived her entire life in the complex recalls years of fights to save it from being torn down until Greece top administrative court finally declared it protected property in 2008. Canada Goose sale
Canada Goose sale were rallies, hunger strikes, sit ins, said 76 year old Chrysoula Charizanou, a former seamstress who raised beachcottage her three children in a one bedroom apartment here. Canada Goose sale
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buy canada goose jacket DEVELOPMENT PLANS Charizanou parents used up their life savings to canada goose stockists uk buy the tiny apartment and she laments that the complex has been left to ruin by a cash strapped state which has canada goose outlet store montreal dithered over what to do with it. buy canada goose jacket
Canada Goose Jackets Without central heating, she spends evenings in thick sweaters huddled over a tiny wood stove heater in her apartment, the outside walls of which bear shell marks from when the complex was caught in crossfire during Greece civil war in the 1940s. Canada Goose Jackets
buy canada goose jacket cheap Outside, the wide, dusty dirt roads between each block, one of the few open spaces in central Athens, are jammed with canada goose outlet england parked cars and often flood with sewage from broken pipes. buy canada goose jacket cheap
Canada Goose Jackets kids tell me: come stay with us But I love this canada goose outlet toronto factory place, Charizanou said, flicking through piles of black and white photographs from the 1960s, when neighbours held dance parties on the roof. was born here and I will die here. Maybe by then something will change. canada goose outlet in toronto But they have been told there is no money to spare. Canada Goose Jackets
Canada Goose sale An official at the state company which owns most of the property, who canada goose outlet real spoke on canada goose parka outlet uk condition of anonymity, said only that a canada goose parka uk plan to develop the property would be finalised this year. Canada Goose sale
Canada Goose Jackets That is creating uncertainty for canada goose outlet store uk the long time residents who canada goose outlet woodbury were born and grew up here and are determined to stay on living in Prosfygika no matter what. Canada Goose Jackets
canada goose store Pulling up his trousers to show canada goose outlet in vancouver a scar from a bullet wound suffered as a child during the civil war, Chiotakis, the pensioner, said he had even convinced his daughter to rent the flat next door canada goose outlet in new york canada goose store.