MYTILENE, Greece: Twenty-nine asylum seekers landed Wednesday on the Greek island of Lesbos, four days before Pope Francis was to make a symbolic visit to the migration hotspot emblematic of Europe’s long-running refugee crisis.
The Somalis, Syrians and Palestinians will be tested for Covid-19 and quarantine after landing near the camp that Francis will visit on Sunday, said the camp’s deputy director Dimitris Vafeas.
Greece was at the center of Europe’s 2015 migrant crisis peak as its Aegean islands were the first destination for mainly Middle Eastern migrants entering the European Union from Turkey.
Lesbos once harbored the Moria refugee camp, which was Europe’s largest until it burned down last year.
Francis will visit the new Mavrovouni camp, which replaced the Moria camp.
A large security presence involving 900 police officers is being readied on the island.
The head of the Catholic Church, who has long defended migrants’ rights and denounced the “hostility” of European governments, visited Lesbos in 2016 and brought back aboard his plane three Syrian Muslim families whose houses had been bombed.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 3,653 people have arrived on Greece’s islands so far this year.
In November, only 196 migrants applied for asylum on the islands, a decrease the Greek government welcomed.
But NGOs, the UNHCR and journalistic investigations attribute the decrease to the Greek government illegally forcing migrants back to Turkish waters and preventing them from applying for asylum.
Athens denies the allegations.
Migrants land on Greece’s Lesbos before Pope Francis trip
https://arab.news/93z5y
Migrants land on Greece’s Lesbos before Pope Francis trip
- The Somalis, Syrians and Palestinians will be tested for Covid-19 and quarantine after landing near the camp that Pope Francis will visit on Sunday
- Pope Francis visited Lesbos in 2016 and brought back aboard his plane three Syrian Muslim families whose houses had been bombed
Greek police detain 313 in raid at university after mob attacked police
- Such attacks against riot police near the university campus are not uncommon
- Riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to beat back the attackers
THESSALONIKI, Greece: Authorities in Greece on Saturday detained 313 people in a raid on the university campus of the country’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, after riot police were attacked by mobs of people hurling more than 100 Molotov cocktails.
Greek police said roving groups of people wearing hoods emerged from the campus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the predawn hours Saturday to attack a squad of riot police. The unit is usually deployed some distance from the campus to quell any disturbances after all-night parties that take place on university grounds.
Police said all 313 people were released without being charged.
Such attacks against riot police near the university campus are not uncommon but it’s the first time that so many people were detained after such a clash during which an unusually high number of firebombs was used.
Riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to beat back the attackers. One officer was taken to a military hospital for burns to his face and leg while a 21-year-old civilian was treated for respiratory problems, police said.
The university said in a statement that off-campus “extremists” in conjunction with some individuals from within university grounds had committed the attacks. They said an investigation is underway to determine if any students had taken part. They added that no permission had been granted for any party to take place on university grounds.
