Police on the island of Lesvos has arrested seven Greek extremists who were conducting street and house to Greeks and foreign nationals in the village of Moria. All members of the so-called “control squad” or “raid battalion” were wearing helmets and holding bats when they arrested on Thursday night. All …
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Moria residents occupy public building, asylum seekers stage new protest
Locals are angry, asylum seekers are exhausted. Both groups have reached the limits of their patience. Residents of the village Moria symbolically occupied the building of the General Secretariat of the Aegean & Islands Policy on Tuesday morning as a response to the unprecedented incidents and protest by asylum seekers …
Read More »Moria asylum seekers stage protest, set fires, police fires teargas
Clashes between Moria asylum seekers and police erupted outside the town of Mytilini on the island of Lesvos on Monday morning, when approximately 2,000 people set to march to the port. Police fired teargas and sound flares against the men, women and children protesters. On their part, the asylum seekers …
Read More »“Floating wall” to stop refugees puts lives at risk, says Amnesty International
The plans of the Greek government to build floating fences to prevent refugee and migrants arrivals from Turkey have triggered sharp criticism by Amnesty International. A statement issued on Thursday says that the floating fences will put people’s lives at risk. In response to a government proposal to install a …
Read More »Macron: “France supports Greece & Cyprus, condemns Turkey’s challenges”
“France supports Greece and Cyprus in terms of respect for their sovereign rights, condemning Turkey’s challenge of these,” President Emmannuel Macron said during a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday. “We repeated our concerns and condemned unequivocally the Turkey-Libya agreement,” …
Read More »Greece is building floating fences to stop migration flows in the Aegean
Greece is planning to build floating fences in the Aegean Sea in order to prevent refugees and migrants to arrive from Turkey, The fences are reportedly to be set off the islands of the Eastern Aegean Sea that receive the overwhelming migration flows. The plan will be executed by the …
Read More »German ruling party criticizes Greece’s low deportation rate of refugees
German ruling party CDU has criticized Greece over a low rate of deportation of migrants to Turkey. The criticism came by Thorsten Frei, vice-chief of the conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group and spokesman on migration issues. He accused Greece of “administrative failure.” “The previous year, the number of arrivals in Greece …
Read More »Migration influx has subsided, both on land and sea, says Greece
Migration influx has subsided both on land and sea, Greece’s government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Saturday. He attributed the decrease with better border guarding and accelaration of asylum procedures. During his visit to the city of Alexandroupolis in north-eastern Greece, Petsas emphasized the strengthening of the police force and …
Read More »General strike on Aegean islands as locals protest migration policy
All activities stand still on the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Leros as the public and private sector are holding a general strike to protest the government policy on migration and the continuous flows of refugees and migrants. Local residents and authorities and business owners have joint the strike. …
Read More »Turkish Coast Guard rams boat with Syrian refugees (video)
A video shows a vessel of the Turkish Coast Guard trying to ram boat full with refugees. One sees how the Coast Guard is pushing against the bow of the of the migrants’ boat. Women and children are being heard screaming, several passengers raise their arms signaling that they surrender. …
Read More »Greece’s “priority is to reduce migration flows,”says Migration Minister
The government’s priority is to reduce migration flows to the Eastern Aegean islands, new Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Sunday while visiting islands in the eastern Aegean Sea. The new Migration Minister visited Samos and Lesvos in order to ease locals’ reactions to the planned closed accommodation …
Read More »Greece sets up a Migration Ministry, 6 months after abolishing the previous one
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis needed full six months to realize that it was a grave mistake to abolish the Migration Ministry created by the SYRIZa government and assign such a crucial issue for Greece to the Ministry of Public Order as well as to deputy ministers in other institutions, like …
Read More »Chios: Protesters boo, throw water bottles at Dep Labor Minister over Migration policy
Serious incidents erupted in the town hall of the island of Chios on Monday night, where Deputy Minister of Labor, Notis Mitarakis was booed and became the target of protesters angry over the government’s migration policy and the creation of a new structure for refugees and migrants. A group of …
Read More »Greek PM calls on Germany, other EU countries to take in asylum seekers from Lesvos
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Germany and other EU states to take in migrants and asylum seekers directly from the island of Lesvos. “The idea is that a portion of the asylum application process be carried out in other countries,” Mitsotakis said in an interview with the German …
Read More »Turkish soldiers raise flag on Greek islet in Evros river to provoke incident
The Turkish flag was raised on a tiny islet in the Evros river, the natural border between Greece and Turkey. The flag was later taken down by Greek soldiers. The provocative incident occurred on the islet of “Loulou” near the village Praggi by Didymoticho. According to an exclusive report by …
Read More »London meeting: Mitsotakis and Erdogan agree that they disagree
Frozen faces, tense smiles, ice-cold hands: Strangers in the room where Greeks and Turkish delegations met in London on the sidelines of the NATO Summit. The meeting between Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President,Tayyip Erdogan, including Foreign and Defense Ministers from both countries lasted exactly 1.35 hour. The …
Read More »Kalamata City suspends 5G network fearing locals will become infertile!
The City Council of Kalamata decided to suspend the pilot program of 5G network fearing possible negative effects on citizens’ health. In fact, it was a group of citizens who protested the advanced wireless technology speaking of “the experiment 5G” in their city and forced the elected local authorities to …
Read More »Closed centers on Greece’s islands to “operate in parallel” with hotspots
The Greek government plans to operate the pre-departure centers on the five Aegean islands in parallel with the existing reception centers (hotspots.) This is said in a letter by Minister for Citizen Protection to the European Commissioner for Human Rights. In November, the Greek government has said that the hotspots …
Read More »Pre-departure center on Lesvos to be built in forest fire zone (video)
The Greek government plans to built the pre-departure center for migrants and refugees on the island of Lesvos inside a forest fire zone. The structure is scheduled to host up to 7,000 people, its construction is expected to start this week. According to an exclusive report by local media stonisi, …
Read More »Pope Francis sends aide to Lesvos to bring 33 refugees to Rome
The Vatican says Pope Francis has dispatched a close aide to the Greek island of Lesvos to bring back 33 asylum-seekers to Rome. During his visit to Moria in 2016, the Pope had taken three Syrian families, a total of 12 people with six children among them, to the Holy …
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