Squats hosting migrants prompt ire of owners

As hundreds of migrants continue to be hosted by members of leftist and anarchist groups in squats across the capital, the owners of the properties being occupied are struggling to gain access, Kathimerini understands.

Police sources said there are plans for vacating occupied properties, but that they are being delayed due to a lack of alternative accommodation for the migrants.

Even when there is legal action, the response by authorities is far from immediate. Police raided the occupied premises of a building belonging to the Hellenic Red Cross last month, 40 days after the organization took legal action.

Owners are particularly frustrated as they continue to receive tax and utility bills for properties that they cannot get access to.

Meanwhile, conditions at state reception centers for migrants remain sub-standard.

At the Moria camp on Lesvos, 12 Syrian refugees went on hunger strike over the weekend. According to sources, they have been at the camp for between three to eight months. Their initial applications for asylum were rejected so they are awaiting a decision by an appeals committee.

However, that committee cannot issue a decision until the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, has ruled on whether Turkey is a safe country for migrants to be returned to, in line with an agreement between Ankara and Brussels aimed at curbing human trafficking across the Aegean.