This is my rushed translation of a text published by the Transgender Support Association on June 4th 2013.
Subject: “The daily and arbitrary arrest of transgender people in Thessaloniki”
The Transgender Support Association, an organization that fights for the rights of transgender / trans people, condemns and shares its outrage at the daily and unjustified arrests of transgender people in Thessaloniki.
According to written complaints given to us by our members living in Thessaloniki, the police have been conducting daily sweeps and arrests of transgender people since Thursday, May 30th.
According to these written complaints, transgender people are detained for 3 to 4 hours at the Republic Square police department of Thessaloniki on the pretext of verifying whether they are involved in sex work, and the police’s behaviour and demeanor towards these individuals has been degrading to their dignity and honour.
Three of the complaints we’ve received detail police pulling over and detaining three transgender women for no apparent reason.
In every instance, the complainants allege that the police engage in unacceptable and offensive behaviour, the police going so far as to threaten them with charges of ‘Indecency’ if they don’t ‘return to normal.’
We believe it is reasonable to wonder, given the sudden daily sweeps taking place since Thursday, May 30th in conjunction with the statements being made against Thessaloniki Pride by a number of local personalities (both civilian and religious), whether these sweeps are deliberately targetting the most vulnerable members of the LGBT and transgender community.
The Transgender Support Association issues a reminder that after a similar police sweep in Athens where arrests without cause were also made, all of the transgender women who were then arrested and released have since been found innocent by the courts, and the courts accepted the defense’s arguments that one cannot presume that by simply being present in certain geographical areas that a transgender person can therefore be assumed to be undertaking sex work, let alone that they are ‘harassing’ people walking by. Such an approach would be tantamount to criminalizing people simply on the basis of their gender identity, which cannot be tolerated in a democratic society.
The Transgender Support Association vigorously condemns the violation of transgender peoples’ rights in these practices, while pledging to inform the international community of these deplorable events and to defend the rights of transgender people through appropriate legal means.
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Transgender Support Association
Zan Moreas 17 Koukaki Athens.
Click here for the original greek text.
Diasporic Mutual Aid 