Sep 06, 2020 at 03:05 pm

Save Tiganakia grill house

Update posted by Alqi Thomaniku

Dear friends,

It’s very hard for me to share this news with you, but at the moment I feel I don’t have any other option. As you all know, I have been on the island since May 2015, when the refugee crisis started on Lesvos. In 2015, I started the restaurant Damas, a restaurant with food from the Middle East. Later I transformed the place into Tiganakia Grill House, where everyone was still very welcome.

From the very beginning I have been here nonstop trying to give my best and all my services to each and everyone, to volunteers, NGOs, refugees, every human being, facing every single day all different kinds of situations. Unfortunately, because of this, I was never fully accepted by the local community. From time to time they tried to make my life very hard.

In July 2020, I received a huge penalty from the authorities, officially for the outdoor area I created. In my opinion, I only added some things to the already existing outside construction, to make it more useful. As the construction already existed for many years, I really don’t understand why I must pay 260,000 EUR by the end of September.

I’m reaching out to you, because I don’t know what to do anymore. If you have any idea how we can undo the decision of the authorities, so I can keep my restaurant, please let me know. Any support is more than welcome.

Thank you.

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