Migrants held on Greek island demand freedom
Date
4/5/2016 10:08:48 AM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Activists hold placards as they protest against the return of migrants to Turkey at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island ofLesbos April 4 2016. REUTERS/Giorgos Moutafis
By Karolina Tagaris
LESBOS: Several dozen migrants beingdetained at a holding camp on the Greek island of Lesbosprotested behind the barbed wire fence of the compound onTuesday shouting "We want freedom!"
They were among thousands of refugees and migrants who havearrived on Lesbos on or since March 20 from Turkey and who arebeing held under a new EU agreement with Ankara until theirasylum requests are processed and they are accepted or sentback.
The first group of 202 migrants most from Pakistan werereturned to Turkey on Monday from Lesbos and the Aegean islandof Chios.
Through barbed wire at the Moria camp on Lesbos one manheld up a piece of cardboard which read: "Kill us if you want."
On the wall of the sprawling gated complex which was oncean army camp graffiti read: 'No one is illegal'.
The European Union and Turkey reached a deal in March toseal off a route used in the past year by hundreds of thousandsof migrants many fleeing conflict zones.
In return the EU will take in thousands of Syrian refugeesdirectly from Turkey and reward it with financial aid visa-freetravel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.
Reporters have been barred from entering the Moria siteinitially set up to register arrivals.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR stopped transportingarrivals to and from the site since it became what it calls a"detention centre".
Other aid groups have pulled out from the site in protest atconditions there.
UNHCR says there are some 600 people above capacity atMoria including pregnant women lactating mothers and childrenwith insufficient food.
Just over 172000 refugees and migrants have arrived by seain Europe through the first weekend in April the InternationalOrganization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
The figure includes small numbers of migrants arriving inCyprus and Spain as well as the busier routes connecting Turkeyto Greece and North Africa to Italy the agency said in astatement.
Reuters