Galery

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More than 1,300 migrants have been moved from the centre of Athens to the closed Olympic sports facilities in the district of Galatsi. For weeks they lived in Victoria Square in the open air, some in tents, others on benches, all of them without access to toilets and bathrooms. Their stay there triggered a series of reactions from residents and business owners around the square.

The migrants were transported by public transport buses under the supervision of Minister for Migration Yiannis Mouzalas. In statements to the media, he acknowledged that the square is in a "miserable" state and promised the residents that the situation would return to normal.

The operation to relocate the migrants continued for several hours mainly due to protests by members of the United Movement against Racism and the Fascist Threat (KEERFA). In statements to the Athens News Agency, their leader Petros Constantinou said that the members of the movement "support the relocation of refugees to closed facilities, but insist on the mayor of Athens providing such in the city centre. We gathered here to stop the provocations of Golden Dawn," he said.

Meanwhile, in another part of the square, there was a protest of neighbourhood residents, demanding the removal of migrants and refugees from it. According to the owner of a cafeteria that is located in Victoria Square, "commercial sites are completely broke. Our turnover has dropped by 90%, we have no revenue to pay the social security contributions and the salaries of employees."

Riot police forces are in the square in order to prevent possible conflicts.

Teams of the cleaning service of Athens municipality have cleaned the square, the Athens News Agency reports. According to other Greek media, the traffic on 3 September Street has already resumed but both the participants in the two protests and the police units are still there.

Reporters of the Greek media, who are at the sports facility in Galatsi, state that it is not yet open because the paperwork for providing it for that purpose by the privatization fund has not yet been completed. Some of the immigrants have pitched their tents in the courtyard of the base and the local municipality has secured dry food and water for them.

As it is not yet clear exactly when the authorities will open the building, dozens of other migrants are leaving the region and moving to the forest park in Galatsi and the centre of Athens.