The Alternate Minister of Migration Tasia Christodoulopoulou made a clear distinction between the Amygdaleza migrant detention center and the camp being prepared for refugees at Eleonas.
Mrs. Christodoulopoulou told Mega Channel that the Amygdaleza facility “is a holding center with police installations” with the majority of detainees being convicts who have completed their sentence and await deportation and a few who were arrested without papers and area detained until their status can be determined. On the contrary, the camp being created at Eleonas will offer ‘free access’ to refugees, who will be allowed to come and go as they please.
Furthermore, the Alternate Minister stressed that people who have arrived in Greece by sea and have been given temporary residence permits cannot be held at detention center and argued that they must be taken to hospitality centers. Their transportation to such centers, she added, cannot happen instantly, but added that it was positive that the area in Eleonas was chosen.
Regarding the refugee situation at the Pedion tou Areos Park in downtown Athens, she noted that everything is being done to improve their living conditions and explained that their residence there is temporary. She estimated that the park has been converted into a “solidarity park” and commented that in Germany, which has about 11 million migrants, they also live in tents in parks.
About 400 refugees are estimated to have found refuge in the Pedio tou Areos Park, with the camp in Eleonas expected to have a capacity of 600 people. The refugee camp in Eleonas will be fenced and police patrols will be carried out around it, however Mrs. Christodoulopoulou underlined that the refugees will be allowed to stay for as long as they want.
