Our faithfull source in Greece just told us a story about going with the ferry trip from Mytilini ( over Xios ) to Athens.
Last night I travelled by ship from Mytilene to Athens. That gave me the opportunity to observe a transfer from Pagani to Xios. On board there were around 50 people that the police was bringing from Pagani to the prison in Xios. The police gathered them outside on deck, guarded by about four or five police men. As I tried to approach them the police told me that I am not allowed to do so. After a short discussion I could at least talk to one man from Somalia. He told me that the police didn´t take their fingerprints until now and that he doesn´t know where the police will bring them. I told them that I think that they will bring them to the prison in Xios.
When we arrived in Xios the police brought the people down to the exit. They tried to hold them all together but they were not separated from the other people. One police man was quite nervous as if he was fearing something would happen. Next to the ship there was a turistic bus waiting for the people.
When I returned inside the ship in order to go to Athens, I met a group of people that I already met in Pagani. Most of them were Afghan families with little children. Two of them told me that the police wrote a higher age on their paper than they are , if they are obviously under-age. Like that, they lost the special protection their are supposed to retrieve as under-age refuges.
First time I these people was on Sunday. Probably they have been taken to Xios on Monday. Now the police gave them the deportation decision and let them free. That means that they stayed about two nights in Pagani and another two nights in Xios. In between they have been transferred from one island to another. In a very short time the families were bothered a lot. First by keeping them in Pagani which is in an even worse status after the revolts. Then by bringing them to another prison. For sure it is more expensive to transfer them with police and pay them first one ticket to Xios and then another one to Athens. For sure I could imagine a lot of things better to invest that money
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