Protest at reception center as migrant influx continues

As tensions continue to run high at overcrowded reception centers across the country, a group of migrants Thursday staged a sit-in at a state-run camp in Diavata, northern Greece, protesting plans to bring more migrants to the facility.

The situation is worse on the islands of the eastern Aegean, where many reception centers are at twice their capacity as hundreds of migrants and refugees await the outcome of asylum applications or deportation orders while dozens more arrive daily from neighboring Turkey. There are currently more than 14,500 migrants living on camps on Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros.

Hellenic Coast Guard officers and members of the European Union’s border monitoring agency Frontex intercepted a smuggling vessel carrying 46 refugees off the coast of Kastellorizo early Thursday. Among them was a pregnant woman, who gave birth to a boy later in the day.