Cohabitation as collective resistance: City Plaza and the politics of migrant squatting in Athens

In 2015, over 850,000 people arrived on the Greek shores, exposing the fragility of Europe’s migration governance and making Greece central to the summer of migration. Thousands, transferred from the islands to the mainland, were placed in hastily built camps on city outskirts or forced to sleep in the streets. In Athens, those unable to access these camps sought refuge in public squares and parks (Kasparek 2016), highlighting the severe lack of infrastructure and support. Pedion tou Areos and nearby Victoria Square became key sites where hundreds endured extreme precarity with minimal sanitation and healthcare.