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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-09-11
CONTENTS
[01] More than 10,000 refugees from Lesvos due in Piraeus
[01] More than 10,000 refugees from Lesvos due in Piraeus
ANA-MPA -- More than 10,000 refugees will have left the island of
Lesvos on ferries bound for Piraeus since the start of this week, Greek
authorities said on Tuesday. Additional facilities were activated on
the island to speed up the processing of arriving migrants and refugees.
The Lesvos municipality said that the 'Georgios Skoufos' sports stadium
in the northwest of the main town of Mytilene has been handed over to
state authorities, to facilitate the process of registering thousands
of migrants and refugees that have arrived on the island. It said the
decision was made in consultation with caretaker Prime Minister Vassiliki
Thanou, in the wake of recent events and the risk of a "social eruption
with incalculable consequences." The sports stadium will be made
available until Thursday, after which it must be free for use by three
adjacent schools that open again on Friday. Municipal authorities said
the decision was made in order to speed up the registration process as
much as possible so that the migrants and refugees can leave the island.
Within a few hours of opening up the new area for migrant registrations,
migrant congestion in the town of Mytilene has lessened and island
authorities hope for continued improvement over the next few days. It
forms part of a new plan for coping with the refugee influx on the island
that includes the opening of the disused Petra army base and the Klio and
Kapi outposts, where new arrivals will be taken for processing before
they are allowed to embark on ships at the port of Sigri to take them
off the island. Those arriving on the other side of the island near
Mytilene will be taken to the old Kourtzi army base, currently owned
by Alpha Bank, and then leave for Piraeus from the port in Mytilene.
On Monday, 2850 refugees and migrants left from Mytilene on board the
ships 'Eleftherios Venizelos' and 'Blue Star 1' and another 8,000 are
due to depart on Tuesday.
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