Greece relocates refugees

ATHENS: Greek authorities have moved a group of migrants to the mainland in an effort to ease overcrowding in camps on Aegean islands.

The 183 people were ferried from Lesbos and Chios to Athens and placed in hotels, apartments and organised camps inland, state radio ERT reported.

With that, the number of people moved from the islands to the mainland or Crete – Greek’s largest island – has risen to around 6 500 since October, ERT reported, quoting government sources.

It was unclear whether the move was co-ordinated with the EU, which is screening, jointly with Greek authorities, the people in Aegean camps who applied for asylum.

Under an EU-Turkey agreement from April last year, people recognised as refugees are to be sheltered across the EU , while those who are rejected are to be returned to Turkey.

But the process is very slow, with just a few dozen applications processed daily, creating a bottleneck as more people continue to arrive than are interviewed.

There currently are around 15 000 stranded in camps on four islands, though there is place for only 5 500. That means facilities are overcrowded and many live in improvised, inadequate shelters.

Local authorities have been pressing for relief for months. Aid organisations recently warned that the onset of winter could lead to deaths. – dpa