tagged: Alegria, Egypt, Greece, human tragedy, immigrants, Mubarak, North Africa, policy, protests, riots, Tunesia, unrest

(Upd)Greece prepares strategy for possible migrants influx from Egypt

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics

The ongoing anti-Mubarak protests in Egypt do not leave the international community indifferent, especially the neighboring countries. Whether president Mubarak will be ousted or not, once the unrest is settled,  a wave of Egyptians are expected to leave the country. Whether protesters or government faithful. That’s the negative outcome of massive political  protests that set a whole nation in uproar. That’s the negative impact for the citizens of any country in conflict. The wealthy Egyptian have gone already, but how about the rest? How about the masses of common people who spend days and nights on the streets shouting “Mubarak out!”? What will happen with them, should Mubarak remain in power? What will happen with Mubarak’s supporters, should a radical change take place? Either way, a humanitarian tragedy is highly possible…

Greece, currently on the centre of discussion about immigrants, seems very concerned about a possible influx of immigrants and thus not only from Egypt, as  people’s protest are being launched in other North African countries like Algeria. Not to mention the people’s demonstration in Yemen and Jordan.

“Monday morning  Greek Citizens’ Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis staged a meeting with security chiefs from police, coast guard and national intelligence. Aim of the meeting is to develop a strategy for dealing with a possible spike in the number of undocumented immigrants trying to enter Greece after anti-government protest in Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. “(source Kathimerini )

UPDATE: After the meeting Christos Papoutsis  said that currently there is no particular risk concerns, but preparation and readiness are needed.

He added that security checks at land and on the sea to be carried out by the police and the coastal guards will intensify. In this context he included  the checks of  ID cards for ship and ferry boats passengers.

“If there is a possible flow of immigrants into the country, they will be under temporary international protection as provided by law” Greece’ Citizens’ Protection Minister explained.