Protests mount as EU/Turkey migrant deal looms

Three days before the EU/Turkey which will see rejected migrants asylum seekers from Greece returned to Turkey a group of migrants protested on a Greek island with rights groups also raising legal objections.

In protest of the EU deal reports say hundreds of migrants and refugees on the island of Chios tore through a razor wire fence surrounding their holding centre and set off for the port in protest against planned deportation.

Read also: Angela Merkel criticises closure of Balkan routes for migrants

Police say clashes broke out at the site late on Thursday, during which windows were smashed and 10 people were injured lightly with some 300 women and children broke out of the camp on Friday carrying their belongings.

“They say that they don’t want to go back to Turkey and that they are afraid for their safety after yesterday’s clashes between migrants in the hot spot,” a police official said, using the EU term for registration centres that have become detention camps.

The tension on Chios raised the possibility of resistance when the EU-Turkey plan to send back all migrants and refugees who have reached the Greek islands since March 20 goes into effect from Monday.

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