Greece will transfer all migrants who arrived illegally in the country after the 1st March 2020, to the northern Greek city of Serres before they are deported back to their own countries, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said on Wednesday.
According to the latest update from Greek authorities, more than 30,000 individuals were prevented from entering Greece as of Saturday morning, with over 200 being arrested, at the Evros region borders with Turkey.
“Our aim is to return them to their countries,” Mitarachi told the Athens News Agency.
He also said migrants who entered the country prior to the 1st January 2019 and living on the islands, would be transferred to the mainland in the coming days.
Last week Greece announced that from the 1st March 2020, it would no longer accept any new asylum applications for a month, following the build-up of migrants at the border. This has triggered criticism from human rights agencies.
Yesterday, Turkey accused Greek forces of shooting dead one migrant and wounding five others, a claim strongly denied by Greece.
At the time this news article was published, no dinghies have been spotted today (Thursday) off the Greek island of Lesvos, following several days of arrivals of migrants.
Developing news- Government sources state that over 7,000 illegal migrants were evicted from the Evros Greek border within a 24 hour period. Twenty-four arrests have been made so far.