The migrant children in protest at EU Turkey deal

WITH a sign hung from his neck begging for help in broken English, this young boy joined protests on the Greek islands yesterday against sending migrants to Turkey.

Hundreds on Chios and Lesbos voiced their discontent at the EU deal to begin returning migrants to Turkey this week.

While the protests were peaceful, frustrations have been building on the Greek islands where at least 5,000 migrants wait to see whether they will be deported.

Cramped conditions in camps have seen refugees fighting over food and space. Three migrants were hurt when police used stun grenades to break up a late-night protest on Chios last week.

On Samos, three migrants were stabbed after rioting broke out.

There are fears of further unrest this week as the deportations begin from overcrowded holding centres. Melissa Fleming, of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said: ‘The risk of panic and injury in these sites and others is real.’

Charity Save the Children said conditions were ‘deplorable’ inside the Lesbos camp where 2,800 are being held in a facility made for 2,000.

Many have complained of not being given proper access to the asylum procedure. Anas al-Bakhr, a Syrian engineer from Homs who is on Chios, said police marked his arrival date as March 20 – the day the deal came into force – even though he arrived on March 1 .

Meanwhile, Austria’s president last night admitted he was ‘sceptical’ over whether the Turkey deal would put migrants off heading to Europe.