Regional units of Greece

Protest groups on three eastern Greek islands have begun setting up blockades aimed at stopping the government from building new migrant detention centers.

The groups on Lesvos, Chios and Samos have received broad support on the islands including from municipal authorities and farming associations.

Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Thursday announced a legislative initiative to facilitate the immediate hiring of medical staff at the hospitals on the eastern Aegean islands that bear the brunt of migration influx.
Speaking on Alpha TV, Kikilias said that the hospitals needed to be supported because they were originally designed to serve the needs of the local population.

Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis and Alternate Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos are set to meet with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer in Berlin on Thursday.
Talks are expected to focus on the EU's new migration and asylum pact which will be presented in the spring.

Greek administrative officials and residents of the five Greek Aegean islands accommodating refugees and migrants have staged a protest in Athens against plans to build new camps.

Dozens of protesters from the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos Leros and Kos gathered in front of the interior ministry, carrying placards against projects for new refugee camps.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis sought on Wednesday to placate enraged islanders in the northern and eastern Aegean, calling for an itemization of damage to public and private property caused by residents of state-run migrant camps and pledging compensation.

In an effort to mitigate the reactions by local communities to a government plan to expropriate land on the islands of the North Aegean and build new detention centres for migrants and refugees, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis sent a letter to island mayors asking them to list damages to property caused to migration to receive compensation.

The Catholic Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in Lesvos will celebrate St. Valentine's Day with two high mass liturgies on Thursday and Friday, state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported Tuesday.

The Assumption church is one of the numerous churches that claim to keep relics of Saint Valentine.

The council of the North Aegean Region on Tuesday voted to take legal action against a legislative act announced by the government to expropriate land and properties on five islands for the creation of detention centers for asylum seekers.

The council also agreed to suspend all cooperation with the government until it repeals the  legislative act that will enforce the measures.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis on Tuesday said that a meeting scheduled later this week with the mayors of the northern and eastern Aegean islands that are slated to acquire closed pre-deportation migrant centers has been cancelled amid reactions from local authorities.

The long-awaited creation of closed centers for asylum seekers on five northeastern Aegean islands was announced on Monday by government spokesman Stelios Petsas, who stressed that a legislative act will be issued to allow for the acquisition of properties, land and sites by expropriation.