Athens plans up to 30 camps on disused military sites across country to house migrants blamed for ‘crime epidemic’. “On the basis of arrests and investigations we believe that up to 70% of violent crime is perpetrated by foreigners and I say this without wishing to demonise migrants,” said police spokesman Thanassis Kokkalakis.
Greek police escort migrants to be checked for their documents after a ‘sweep’ operation in central Athens.
Greece will open the first of up to 30 camps for illegal immigrants within weeks, in what some describe as a “desperate bid” to contain the social chaos prompted by the economic crisis.
In Athens officials have approved the construction of three of the 30 detention centres that the government has vowed to build on disused military sites.
“The first centre will begin operating in the next 30 to 45 days,” the deputy public order minister, Manolis Othona, said. “It will open as long as the buildings are in sufficiently good shape.”
It was the first official confirmation that the camps would be operational before the Greek general election in early May.
A wave of migrants from the developing world has been blamed for a rise in crime that authorities say has assumed “epidemic proportions”.
Break-ins, robberies, muggings and murders have soared, with burglaries rising by 125% in the greater Athens region in 2011, according to Greek police.
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