[D66] GREECE: 6,000 DETAINED DURING RAIDS ON IMMIGRANTS

[Antid Oto]

GREECE: 6,000 DETAINED DURING RAIDS ON IMMIGRANTS
by SOZ

BY NICHOLAS PAPHITIS 
ASSOCIATED PRESS



ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Authorities in Greece are rounding up thousands of
suspected illegal immigrants in a large-scale deportation drive to combat what a
government official compared to a prehistoric invasion.

Greece has long been Europe's main entry point for illegal immigrants from Asia
and Africa seeking a better life in the West. But Greece's severe economic
problems and high unemployment are making the problem worse than ever.

Police said Monday that 6,000 people were detained over the weekend in Athens in
a massive operation incongruously named after the ancient Greek god of
hospitality, Zeus Xenios.

Officers across the city were seen stopping mostly African and Asian people in
the street for identification checks. Most were only briefly detained, but about
1,600 were arrested for illegally entering Greece and sent to holding centers
pending deportation.

Left-wing opposition parties criticized the crackdown, while the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees voiced concern that migrants from
war-torn countries and genuine asylum-seekers could be denied the right of
protection.

Some 100,000 illegal immigrants are estimated to slip into Greece every year,
mostly from neighboring Turkey, and up to a million are believed to live in
Greece, which has an official population of about 10 million.

The uncontrolled influx, which coincided with a recent spike in crime,
contributed to the sharp rise of an extreme-right political party which uses
aggressive rhetoric against immigrants.

Once beyond the pale of Greek politics, the extreme right Golden Dawn gained
nearly 7 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections six weeks ago.
Mainstream parties also pledged to curtail immigrant flows.

Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias said Monday the rounding-up of illegal
immigrants would continue, arguing that their unchecked entry has brought Greece
"to the brink of collapse."

"The country is being lost," he told private Skai TV. "What is happening now is
(Greece's) greatest invasion ever. Since the Dorian invasion some 3,000 years
ago, the country has never received such a flow of immigration."

Ancient tradition linked the invasion of Greek-speaking Dorian tribes with the
end of the heroic Mycenaean age, although historians believe that the Mycenaean
palatial civilization was brought down by financial and social unrest.

Dendias said arrested immigrants will be temporarily held at police academy
buildings in northern Greece, which are closed for the summer, and at a
detention center outside Athens. He claimed that by the end of the year Greece
will be able to detain up to 10,000 people.

"Whoever is arrested will be held and then deported," he said.

The Greek office of the U.N. High Commission for refugees said that while Greece
has the right to carry out checks on immigrants, it should ensure that
vulnerable groups do not suffer. "People who truly need protection must be able
to request it," said Petros Mastakas, associate protection officer at the UNHCR
office in Athens.

"It is very difficult, practically impossible, for asylum seekers to apply for
protected status, and we are concerned that among those arrested there may be
people who want protection but were unable to submit their requests because
access to the relevant authorities is practically impossible," he said.

© 2012 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.