IN JULY OF this year a Greek court cleared farmers who shot and wounded 28 Bangladeshi strawberry workers.

The ruling sparked protests with the verdict being described as an ‘outrage and a disgrace’.

The strawberry pickers were asking to be paid for six months of unpaid labour when the farmers shot them in April of 2013 – dozens were injured, four severely.

Despite admitting the shooting – two farmers were acquitted.

Two others were convicted of aggravated assault and illegal use of firearms but they too walked free pending appeals for their sentences of 14 years and 7 months and 8 years and 7 months.

Action

A petition with over 47,700 signatures calling for the farmers to be jailed is being handed to the Greek ambassador in Dublin today.

The author of the petition, Gerry Lydon, has said that he will also e-mail MEPs and business associated with Greek strawberries.

The Facebook page, ‘Boycott Greek strawberries and keep the EU slavery free‘ states that:

The amount of signatures should hopefully show the Greek ambassador that even though the migrants seem powerless, there are people all over the world ready to show solidarity with them.

Lydon says he plans to print out the signatures and deliver them in boxes to the Greek ambassador in Pembroke Street at 4pm this afternoon. He says the protest is for two things:

The injustice done to the 28 Bangladeshi workers shot for looking for back pay …. and to make a stand that we will not take the persecution of migrant workers here in the EU.

“It took long enough for humans to be regarded mostly as equals, we can’t let that slip back to slavery and peasantry times.”

The victims lawyer, Moisis Karabeyidis, said after the verdict that he would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

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