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WORLD NEWSTuesday 22 March 2016

Greece sets up detention camps as refugee deal hits delays

DEREK GATOPOULOS opting for more overnight
LORNE COOK crossings and increasingly
Associated Press dangerous routes.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) Four people died Sun-
— Greece detained hun- day while trying to
dreds of refugees and mi- reach Greece, two men off
grants on its islands Mon- the island of Lesbos and two
day, as officials in Athens girls off the tiny islet of Ro,
and the European Union the coast guard said. More
conceded a much-her- than 1,600 people made
alded agreement to send the crossing to Greece on
thousands of asylum-seek- Sunday, and 262 were res-
ers back to Turkey is facing cued in five incidents after
delays. vessels sank or were in dis-
Migrants who arrived af- tress. “We face an uphill
ter the deal took effect effort. Implementation of
Sunday were being led to this agreement will not be
previously open refugee an easy issue,” Greek Prime
camps on the islands of Minister Alexis Tsipras said.
Lesbos and Chios and held He met in Athens with EU
in detention, authorities on Migration Commissioner
the islands said. Dimitris Avramopoulos and
EU countries are trying to urged him to increase pres-
avoid a repeat of the mass sure on Turkey to crack
migration in 2015, when down on smugglers.
more than a million peo- Migrants and refugees
ple entered the bloc. Most have been stranded
were fleeing civil war in Syr- in Greece since Austria
and Balkan countries start-
People gather at the Athens’ port of Piraeus, where over 5,000 ed border closures in re-
refugees and migrants stay, on Monday, March 21, 2016. cent weeks. The number
stranded reached 50,000
Associated Press on Monday, with some
12,000 still camped out
ia and other conflicts, trav- Commission officials said on Greece’s closed border
eling first to Turkey and then with Macedonia.
to the nearby Greek islands support staff needed to im- On the Greek mainland,
in dinghies and small boats. army personnel expanded
Efforts to limit migration plement the deal — includ- refugee shelters at sites
have run into multiple legal in the central and north-
and practical obstacles. ing hundreds of transla- ern parts of the country —
Under the deal, Greek au- mostly at former army bases
thorities will detain and re- tors and migration officers — so migrants who traveled
turn newly arrived refugees to the Greek islands before
to Turkey. The EU will settle — would not start arriving the agreement came into
more refugees directly effect could be resettled.
from Turkey and speed up until next week. Returns, “We are creating between
financial aid to Ankara. The 500 and 1,000 additional
two sides, however, are still they said, cannot start until- shelter places every day ...
working out how migrants and the total right now is
will be sent back. Greece changes its law to 36,000,” Migration Minister
“We are conscious of the Ioannis Mouzalas said.
difficulties,” EU Commission recognize Turkey as a “safe On Monday, monitors from
spokesman Margaritis Schi- Turkey’s interior Ministry ar-
nas said in Brussels. country” for asylum appli- rived on Lesbos, Chios and
“And we are working 24-7 three other Greek islands to
to make sure that every- cations. help supervise the agree-
thing that needs to be in ment and were to stay for
place for this agreement The human rights group at least one week.q
to be implemented soon is
happening.” Amnesty International

sharply criticized the plan.

“Turkey does not offer ad-

equate protection to any-

one,” Iverna McGowan,

the head of Amnesty’s EU

office, told The Associated

Press, accusing Turkey of

routinely forcing Syrians

back across the border.

Migrants, meanwhile, con-

tinued to reach Greek is-

lands in large numbers, as

smugglers appeared to be