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Protests as second migrant ferry leaves Lesbos for Turkey Greece resumes migrant deportations to Turkey
(about 1 hour later)
A ferry carrying 45 migrants has left the Greek island of Lesbos for Turkey, the second such journey carried out under a controversial EU deal to stem the refugee crisis. Greece has lifted its suspension of the EU-Turkey migration deal, deporting a second group of migrants to Turkey after a four-day pause amid administrative chaos and civil unrest.
A second boat carrying a larger group was scheduled to leave the island later on Friday, state television reported. Those who left early on Friday were from Pakistan, it said. Greece began deporting 150 people from the islands of Lesbos, Samos and Kos early on Friday – the first deportations since the EU-Turkey migration deal came into effect on Monday and was then halted.
At the port of Mytilene, at least two activists jumped into the water close to the small ferry, dangling from the heavy chain of the anchor and flashing the “V” sign. They were hoisted out of the water by the Greek coastguard.
Another 30 people gathered at the port of Lesbos, chanting “stop deportations”, “EU shame on you” and “freedom for the refugees”.
The first group of 202 people to be returned to Turkey, most of them from Pakistan and Afghanistan, were sent back on Monday.
Related: Greece may have deported asylum seekers by mistake, says UNRelated: Greece may have deported asylum seekers by mistake, says UN
Under the EU-Turkey deal, Ankara will take back all people, including Syrians, who enter Greece through irregular routes in return for the EU taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and rewarding it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations. The expulsions came just hours after overnight clashes on the island of Chios. Exhausted at being detained in conditions that Amnesty International described as appalling, hundreds of migrants broke out of their detention centre on Thursday and camped in the island’s main port. In response, groups of residents began threatening and chasing them, videos showed.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report There was further chaos on Lesbos early on Friday, as pro-refugee protesters plunged into the sea and swam alongside EU deportation vessels to try to stop the return of 45 Pakistanis to Turkey.
Protesters dive into sea as ferry carrying #migrants prepares to leave #Lesbos returning them to turkey pic.twitter.com/q1Gz608HAG
In Ankara, President Recep Tayipp Erdoğan threatened to end Turkey’s participation in the migration deal unless the EU upheld its side of the bargain.
The EU has begun to fly some Syrian refugees from Turkey to Europe – a pre-requisite for Turkey agreeing to take back all asylum seekers who arrive in Greece from Turkey.
But Erdoğan said he was concerned the EU would renege on plans to provide €6bn in aid, ease visa restrictions for Turkish people, and speed up negotiations over the country’s potential accession to the EU.
“There are precise conditions,” he said in a speech. “If the European Union does not take the necessary steps, then Turkey will not implement the agreement.”
The developments represent the fallout from the EU’s new approach to the biggest wave of mass migration within Europe since the second world war. Until recent weeks, European countries were allowing the hundreds of thousands of people who had fled war, poverty or persecution in the past year to travel onwards to the wealthier countries of northern Europe.
Since 20 March, all those arriving in Greece are now detained in camps, and the EU has promised to send back most of them to Turkey on the assumption that Turkey is a safe country for refugees.
The success of the deal rests on whether cash-strapped Greece can care for so many people who previously would have spent just days in the country before moving on; and whether Greek officials have the resources to properly process so many asylum applications within such a short space of time.
Related: EU-Turkey refugee deal – Q&A
Serious doubts emerged this week over both these points, after the UN said that 13 of the first wave of refugees to be deported had been expelled by mistake. Then on Friday, Amnesty International released a damning report about the conditions in which refugees are being held on islands such as Lesbos and Chios.
More than 4,000 people were being detained in appalling conditions on the islands, and had no access to lawyers, proper healthcare, blankets and a respectable quality of food, the human rights group said.
The detainees included a group of up to 100 vulnerable people who needed urgent attention, including a baby with complications after an attack in Syria, pregnant women, people who are unable to walk, and a girl with a developmental disability, Amnesty said.
“On the edge of Europe, refugees are trapped with no light at the end of the tunnel. A setup that is so flawed, rushed and ill-prepared is ripe for mistakes, trampling the rights and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable people,” said Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty’s deputy Europe director.
“People detained on Lesbos and Chios have virtually no access to legal aid, limited access to services and support, and hardly any information about their current status or possible fate. The fear and desperation are palpable.”
A Syrian man in his late 20s told Amnesty: “I escaped Syria to avoid jail, but now I am in prison.”
The report found there was one caseworker to review more than 800 asylum applications on the island of Chios, despite Greece’s EU partners having pledged to provide logistical help, including
thousands of asylum workers. So far only dozens have arrived.