On Friday, Greek players, coaches and substitutes taking part in a second-tier league match between AEL Larissa and Acharnaikos spent the first two minutes of the game in a sit-down protest. The moment of silence took place in light of numerous deaths involving refugees trying to escape countries like Iraq and Syria. Specifically, Greece has been a hub for these migrants, many of whom have traveled to the Aegean islands.
Per The Guardian, the effort was well-coordinator before the match:
An announcement over the club’s PA system stated: “The administration of AEL, the coaches and the players will observe two minutes of silence just after the start of the match in memory of the hundreds of children who continue to lose their lives every day in the Aegean due to the brutal indifference of the EU and Turkey.
“The players of AEL will protest by sitting down for two minutes in an effort to drive the authorities to mobilise all those who seem to have been desensitised to the heinous crimes that are being perpetrated in the Aegean.”
What does a sit-down protest like this do? Some might say not much, but it’s one of the top viral stories right now, so word has traveled well beyond the impacted region.
(Via The Guardian)