Aegean islands

Samos Mayor Giorgos Stantzos has appealed to islanders to join a rally planned for 4 p.m. on Monday, calling on the central government to intervene and ease overcrowding at the Vathy migrant reception facility. 

A week after a fire in a severely overcrowded migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos forced hundreds of people into the streets, daily arrivals on the eastern Aegean islands continue unabated.

A total of 700 migrants will leave the island of Samos by ship Monday to be taken to the part of Piraeus and, from there, to camps in the mainland.

The move is part of an effort to relieve some overflowing island camps, where conditions are often squalid, leading to frequent migrant protests that, on occasion, turn violent.

A total of 700 migrants will leave the island of Samos by ship Monday to be taken to the part of Piraeus and, from there, to camps in the mainland.

The move is part of an effort to relieve some overflowing island camps, where conditions are often squalid, leading to frequent migrant protests that, on occasion, turn violent.

From the beginning of the year to October 13, 2019, 50 720 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece, of which 39 775 by sea. This is indicated by official data in the country, almost identical to last year, when 50,963 people were registered.

The mayor of East Samos has warned that a fire at its Vathy migrant reception and processing center earlier his week has brought the eastern Aegean island to breaking point as hundreds of people are having to sleep in the streets and public squares.

A state of emergency was declared on the eastern Aegean island of Samos on Tuesday after a fire at its overcrowded refugee reception center on Monday night forced hundreds of migrants into the streets following interethnic clashes that left three Syrian men injured.

Police on the eastern Aegean island of Samos have arrested three suspects, all foreign nationals, in connection with clashes at a migrant facility that left three people injured on Monday.
Three Syrians were on Monday taken to hospital with stab wounds suffered in a fight with a group of Afghans, according to the police.

Greek coast guard officers located and rescued 121 migrants and refugees in two separate incidents in the eastern Aegean Sea on Monday morning.

The fist incident concerned an inflatable dinghy that had sailed from Turkey and was trying to reach the northern shores of Ikaria. It was carrying 49 unidentified migrants who have been transported to Vathy on the nearby island of Samos.

Despite the ongoing talks on a Europe-wide and diplomatic level on how to assist Greece with the threat of a new crisis looming, migrant flows to the islands are continuing to rise, with 809 people having landed on their shores after traveling from the Turkey coast from Monday until Wednesday noon.