“Greece is not the paradise we imagined.”
On a mild night in early May last year, Asma boarded the metro for her daily ride from the residential neighborhood of Agios Nikolaos to downtown Athens. She’s a trans refugee from the Middle East whose name has been changed to protect her identity.
Before she could get off at her stop, however, she was assaulted by a passenger. “He was maybe 20 years old and with his girlfriend,” says Asma, 24, who asked us not to reveal her nationality. During the short 15-minute ride, the man continued to look at her aggressively and started yelling in Greek. Finally, just before her stop, the man approached her. “He was very angry and tried to hit me.”
Asma’s everyday life in Greece has been punctuated by verbal and often physical assault, and Asma now goes to great lengths to avoid the metro, often walking for hours to reach her home. Though using the metro would mean a much shorter travel time, it leaves her unable to escape a potential attack.
Se full story here.