Refugees stage protests in Greece over new measures

Refugees and migrants in Greece have staged protests at the country's border with Macedonia and on islands near the Turkish coast today.

Officials still are unsure when an international agreement to reduce migration would take full effect.

Several hundred protesters camped out at the border disrupted food distribution by charities today, and demanded the border be reopened.

Small protests have also occurred at three detention camps on three Greek islands, where arrested migrants and refugees are waiting to be deported back to Turkey.

All refugees and migrants arriving in Greece are being arrested since Sunday, when the agreement between Turkey and the European Union took effect.

Greek officials could not say when the deportations would start, with outstanding legal and practical issues still to be resolved.

Amnesty International claims to have received “credible information” indicating that Turkey violated European and international law by forcibly returning the asylum-seekers, who fear attacks by the Taliban, to Kabul without granting them access to an asylum procedure.

“The ink wasn’t even dry on the EU-Turkey deal when several dozen Afghans were forced back to a country where their lives could be in danger,” said Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland.

“This latest episode highlights the risks of returning asylum seekers to Turkey – and the knock-on effects the deal is likely to have for refugees transiting through Turkey.

“The suggestion that Turkey is a ‘safe country’ for refugees as suggested by the EU in in the shameful deal it struck with the country just last week is a sham.”