GREECE: Government begins moving illegal immigrants into a newly built holding centre to get them off the streets one week before elections; locals protest against the camp in their area
Record ID:
346573
GREECE: Government begins moving illegal immigrants into a newly built holding centre to get them off the streets one week before elections; locals protest against the camp in their area
- Title: GREECE: Government begins moving illegal immigrants into a newly built holding centre to get them off the streets one week before elections; locals protest against the camp in their area
- Date: 30th April 2012
- Summary: AMYGDALEZA, GREECE (APRIL 29 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HOLDING CENTRE FULL OF HUNDREDS OF CONTAINERS VARIOUS OF IMMIGRANTS WALKING ON THE GROUNDS OF THE HOLDING CENTRE CAMP POLICE PATROLLING AROUND CAMP VARIOUS OF BARBED WIRE AROUND CAMP VARIOUS OF IMMIGRANTS INSIDE THE CAMP AS SEEN FROM BARBED WIRE IMMIGRANT WITH HIS FACE AGAINST BARBED WIRE SIRENS ON FENCE POLICE WALKING AROUND IMMIGRANTS INSIDE GUARDS IN GUARDPOST AT CAMP POLICE CAR CLOSING STREET IN FRONT OF CENTRE, LOCALS PROTESTING IN FRONT BANNER READING "No to the degradation of our region" VARIOUS OF LOCALS SHOUTING IN PROTEST POLICE WATCHING LOCALS PROTESTING, POLICE AT A DISTANCE
- Embargoed: 15th May 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Greece
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Crime
- Reuters ID: LVAAGSGPTVX3XAON80KQ7WT3TEI2
- Story Text: More than 50 illegal immigrants were the first to be transferred to a holding camp on Sunday (April 29) as part of a plan by the government to round up tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and put them in holding centres ahead of national elections.
The government announced this month that it will build 30 centres to house some one thousand illegal immigrants each which will then be deported if they do not qualify for asylum.
It is part of the government's efforts to tackle the problem that has caused complaints primarily in the capital, Athens, by residents who blame them for crime and unsanitary conditions.
The move comes as a far right anti-immigrant party has for the first time gained ground in the last published opinion polls, unnerving the other parties.
The ultra nationalist extreme right party Golden Dawn, whose members often conduct street patrols in areas full of immigrants and want them all deported, scored as much as five percent in the opinion polls.
The Civil Protection Ministry, in charge of illegal immigration, claims the move is not politically motivated but the enactment of immigration measures that had not been implemented.
Non-governmental organizations and anti-racism groups have criticized the move, and also fear the immigrants will not have access to asylum applications before being deported.
The residents of Amygdaleza, some 25 kilometres north of Athens, where the first camp full of hundreds of containers opened, are also against the move, having adopted a 'not in my backyard' policy, and protested outside the holding centre.
They hoisted a sign reading 'no to the degradation of our region'. Police forces monitored the protest. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire, guardposts and police officers.
In Athens racist attacks against immigrants by groups have taken place.
Between October to December 2011, 63 incidents of racist attacks were recorded by UNHCR and other non-governmental organizations against immigrants.
According to an April opinion poll of 1,610 Greeks, 48 percent think illegal immigrants should leave, up from 19 percent in 2009. Another 90 percent believe immigrants are to blame for the rise in crime, while 54 percent believe detention centres are necessary. Only 7 percent believe immigrants should be helped to assimilate into society.
Some 90 percent of those entering Europe enter through Greece. A fence is being built on a section of the Greek -Turkish border, one of the main crossings, to deter immigrants passing.
But many slip through the police net and arrive in Athens. Some get mixed up in the black market, or drugs, or prostitution. Hundreds together rent cheap, abandoned decrepit apartments in the capital.
According to police statistics 100,000 illegal immigrants were arrested nation-wide in 2011.
Under a government program, illegal immigrants can receive airline tickets and pocket money if they return voluntarily to their country, but due to the crisis the government cannot afford to pay to send all of them back. The Civil Protection Ministry has now tapped some 10 million euros of available European Union funds to continue the program.
The European Union funds 75 percent of immigration policy measures but the government must cover the remaining 25 percent. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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