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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-26
CONTENTS
[01] More than 20,000 refugees / migrants currently stranded in Greece,
ministry says
[01] More than 20,000 refugees / migrants currently stranded in Greece,
ministry says
More than 20,000 Mideast war refugees and irregular migrants are now
stranded in Greece, while numbers at the Idomeni border crossing with
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) are growing alarmingly
and reception facilities are reaching capacity, the migration policy
ministry reported on Friday.
The reception centres in the greater Athens were filled to overflowing,
the ministry said, with 2,000 people currently staying at a camp set up
the former Olympic facilities in the coastal Elliniko, 1,200 at a centre
in downtown Athens, 1,200 in Schisto port site and 1,150 waiting at the
port of Piraeus. Similarly, 2,000 had filled a new reception centre at
Diavata, Thessaloniki, in northern Greece.
Large numbers of third country nationals have started congregating at the
border crossing at Idomeni after fYRoM authorities slowed the passage
of registered refugees entering to roughly 50 an hour earlier this
week. There were 4,000 people waiting at a temporary camp at Idomeni,
where there was no free space, and another 1,500 at a petrol station
in the border town of Polykastro. Meanwhile, dozens of third country
nationals continued arriving on foot even though authorities of the
neighboring country did not allow anyone to legally enter their territory
until the afternoon.
At the same time, refugees and irregular migrants continued to arrive on
various eastern Aegean islands. There were 482 in Rhodes, Kastellorizo,
Leros and Kos, a further 1,766 people waiting to depart for the mainland
at the hotspot and camp in Lesvos and 498 awaiting registration on
Chios. Roughly 1,000 are expected to leave Lesvos and Chios for Piraeus
on the ferry 'Blue Star 1' on Friday night.
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