Thousands of migrants and camped in the country’s largest port, near Athens, refugees have they received within two weeks to move to camps built by the army or be expelled by force, indicated the Thursday the Greek authorities.
Shops where migrants sleep, placed in the Athens port of Piraeus, on Thursday, April 7, 2016 ..
Photo: AP Photo / Lefteris Pitarakis / AP in Spanish
the order issued Thursday comes after nearly a third of the 52,000 migrants stranded in Greece by closures of European border have refused to move to organized shelters and remain camped at the port of Piraeus and next to the border with Macedonia, in the north .
More than 4,000 migrants still in Piraeus – a key center for the tourism industry, vital to the Greek economy.
“all efforts to convince refugees and migrants that the best thing for them is to move will be exhausted,” said a statement from the Greek coast guard. “There is a period of 10-15 days to leave the port”.
Athens has hardened its position towards migrants from the entry into force on 20 March migration agreement reached between the European Union and Turkey. Some 4,000 migrants and refugees arriving in the Greek Aegean islands from Turkish territory since been arrested, and most will be returned to the neighboring country. The deportations began on Monday and is expected to resume Friday.
More than one million refugees and migrants entered the European Union last year. Most they crossed Greece and the Balkan countries towards central Europe.
In Piraeus, employees of the Ministry of Interior and translators spent hours on Thursday trying to persuade migrants to voluntarily move to a new camp in northern Greece, the aerial photographs showing them place and explaining what facilities are available.
“We are trying to explain that the new fields have good facilities and that there are people who can submit their applications for asylum there,” he told AP Ilias Iakovou, a volunteer translator. “But people are afraid to go because they fear getting locked and running out of money. They feel safe if they are near Athens”.
The Iranian migrant Devidjan Ahmad said he was not sure about whether to relocate.
“I’ve been in Greece 19 days. I went twice to the border with Macedonia, but it was closed. Now I’m back here,” said Devidjan. “I have a brother in Germany. He is a professor. I want to go there.”
___
Follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos Gatopoulos
No comments:
Post a Comment