Samos

Police on Samos have identified four residents of the eastern Aegean island as perpetrators of acts of vandalism against vehicles and a building belonging to nongovernment organizations working with undocumented migrants on the island in the first half of this month.

The government on Friday began transferring a total of 604 migrants from the islands of Samos, Chios and Lesvos to closed facilities on the Greek mainland.

The transfer concerns people that entered Greece iafter March 1, 2020, when the government decided to suspend the asylum procedure for all new arrivals amid an influx of arrivals from the coast of Turkey.

The migrants trying to breach Greece's land border may have failed, but, with the help of improving weather, arrivals on the islands are accelerating.

Sources have told Kathimerini that, from 7 to 11 a.m. Sunday, more than 400 migrants have arrived on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos.

Much-awarded Greek novelist Alki Zei, whose work has been translated in more than 30 languages, has died at her home at the age of 97, her publisher announced. 
Her death late Thursday was announced by her publisher Nontas Papageorgiou.

Despite vehement local opposition to the construction of new closed centers on the Aegean islands and Tuesday's clashes between residents and riot police, the government insists it does not intend to back down from its decision to go ahead with the plan.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in a speech to the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Council - which this year focused on the protection of children - stressed that Greece has saved the lives of thousands of refugees and migrants and has shouldered a disproportionately large share of the burden of the crisis.

The government is determined to move ahead with its plan to build new holding facilities for migrants and refugees as part of a plan to accelerate asylum procedures and deportations on the five islands hosting camps, its spokesman said on Tuesday, amid reactions to the scheme from island residents.

Protest groups on three eastern Greek islands on Monday began 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.

Containers have been placed in a field in Zervou area near the capital of Samos island where the construction of a new, closed-type migrant camp has begun. [EPA]

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.