Galery

1

A police operation in the region of Idomeni village on the Greek-Macedonian border has been underway since morning to remove those illegal migrants there, who cannot cross the border to go to Western Europe.

According to the Greek media, the operation is running smoothly for the time being. Only five migrants opposed the measure and the police detained them.

1,200 migrants will be transported to Athens by bus and it is expected that they will be accommodated in a gym in the neighbourhood of Palaio Faliro. According to journalists who are on the spot, the first buses have already set off.

The operation to clear the railway line that migrants blocked for about 20 days began at 08:00 am today. The area is closed off in a radius of three kilometres and 400 riot police officers are removing migrants.

Earlier, they cleared the area of journalists, TV crews and photographers who were there. Journalists from Thessaloniki reported that two journalists and one photographer had been detained at 06:30 am and sent to the police station in Evzoni village in order for them to not cover the operation to clear migrants. Media representatives define the events as an attempt by the left government to silence freedom of speech.

Photos: AP Photo / Giannis Papanikos

In yesterday's statements on Skai TV, Greek Minister for Migration Yiannis Mouzalas said that "the issue will be finalized in the coming days" and was adamant that the authorities wanted to "avoid bloodshed".

According to sources, the railway line has now been cleared and the first train is expected to cross the border at 11:00 am.

Blocking the railway line had caused serious problems to those Greek companies that export their products to Western Europe using this type of transport. Meanwhile, the newspaper Kathimerini reports that the first major international company that had chosen Piraeus port to be the entrance of its products to Europe, Hewlett Packard, has already rejected the route Piraeus-Idomeni. The company is currently using the Slovenian Kopler port due to which Greece is already incurring serious financial losses.

Photos: AP Photo / Giannis Papanikos

According to Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport Peti Perka, the government delayed the operation to remove migrants from Idomeni to ensure that it would not lead to serious clashes.

Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis in turn said he was extremely worried about what would happen to those migrants who would arrive in the Greek capital by the end of the day.

Meanwhile, another 1,030 refugees and migrants have arrived at the port of Piraeus from the islands of Lesbos and Chios, and the influx of new waves is not stopping. 20,325 refugees and migrants arrived on the Greek islands in the first six days of December alone. By comparison, the total number of arrivals in May this year was 18,444. The influx of people wishing to arrive in Europe is not stopping despite the tragedies at sea such as the one near Farmakonisi yesterday in which six children drowned and eight adult Afghans were rescued.

According to Minister for Migration Mouzalas, migrants can choose between three options: to apply for asylum, to voluntarily return to their countries or to suffer the consequences of the application of the law. It states that all migrants whose documents to postpone their extradition by six months have expired should be forcibly returned. According to the Minister, about 300 migrants who are in the region of Idomeni today have expressed a desire to voluntarily return to their countries.

Photo: AP Photo / Giannis Papanikos

In parallel, the Greek police have already taken actions that aim to prevent from reaching Idomeni those who are not allowed to cross the Greek - Macedonian border. Police teams are checking intercity and private buses to find migrants, both at the points of departure and during the trip. The newspaper refers to sources from the Ministry of Citizen Protection, according to which there are six road patrols along the route from Athens to Idomeni.

Four hours after the start of the police operation in Idomeni the railway line is cleared. According to the Greek State Railways TRAINOSE, a passenger train will transport a specific number of migrants to Thessaloniki and two locomotives are already on their way to Macedonia to transport to the interior of Greece blocked commercial wagons.

During the operation, the authorities detained ten immigrants who had opposed them. 14 buses carrying 1,200 immigrants have set off to Athens. The members of non-profit organisations have also been removed from the region of Idomeni.

Commenting on the developments, Christos Goudenoudis, mayor of Peonia that includes the village of Idomeni, said, "The important thing now is to secure calmness because the local community is scared and stressed."