ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Lawmakers in Greece were ready to support legislation to deport refugees back to Turkey as clashes between migrants persisted Thursday at overcrowded detention camps.
A three-hour fight broke out overnight between groups of migrants camping out in Greece’s main port of Piraeus, leaving eight people injured and requiring treatment at nearby hospitals.
The clashes, believed to have been between Afghan and Syrian migrants, left the area strewn with rocks and broken glass. New protests were also reported at detention camps on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios, from where deportations to Turkey are due to start next week.
More than 50,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece after Balkan countries closed their borders to the massive flow of refugees pouring into Europe. Some 11,500 remain camped out at the border with Macedonia, ignoring instructions from the government to move to organized shelters.
Hundreds of those camping out in Piraeus were boarding buses Thursday for newly-created refugee camps elsewhere in Greece.