Roughly 1,800 third country nationals that landed on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos over recent weeks were transported by ferry boat to Piraeus, on the mainland, overnight.

The group arrived at the port early Sunday morning after an unscheduled ferry boat route. Most of the group is comprised of Syrians that had been ferried over to the island from opposite Turkish mainland.

In comments to reports, most said they have friends and relatives in the greater Athens that will host them, while some said they would sleep in the rough. Practically all of the irregular migrants headed to central Athens’ Omonia square via bus – the unofficial mustering point for Third World migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants that make it to greater Athens.

They had remained, camped out and hosted at an old hotel, due to redtape and delays in registering them.

The issue of thousands of third world nationals mostly from the Middle East (but no exclusively) camped out on roadsides and main squares generated extensive negative press and complaints by local residents and tourism professionals.

Turkey currently hosts millions of fleeing Syrians, which it calls “guests”, many of whom want to flee to western Europe via Greece.

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