Journalistic forays: dis-parity: Albanian Roma in Votanikos, Greece: Viamax

At the very end of Thessalias street, a small road in the area of Votanikos, and straddling the massive Kifissos Avenue, lays an empty parcel of land. Overgrown with weeds and a few scattered remains of a wall or a fence, remnants of a distant past, it would not be hard to dismiss it as merely abandoned, like so much else in this area. As it turned out, it would soon become an office building, part of a concerted effort by city authorities to reshape the area of Votanikos.

In early June of 2007 it temporarily assumed an unexpected role: it became the provisional home for a group of Albanian Roma recently evicted from their long-term settlement in Ag. Polikarpou street, just a few blocks away. Pressured to leave their homes for a paltry sum, without a chance to claim any of their possessions or building materials, they were forced to procure food and shelter for themselves and their children amidst record-breaking temperatures and government warnings advising against unnecessary outdoor and/or strenuous activities.