Central Athens’ Victoria Square was again turned into a makeshift migrants’ camp overnight on Thursday, as dozens of third country nationals, including women and children, filled the open site. Most of the people described themselves as Syrian refugees, although there were several groups of young Afghan, Iraqi and even Pakistani men.
The third party nationals that illegally entered Greece were the latest arrivals from the country’s eastern Aegean islands, choosing to sleep in the rough rather than seek out a handful of shelter set up by the current government.
In terms of the management of the problem by the outgoing radical leftists, relevant minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou deflected high-pitched criticism against her and the government by bragging that “I’m making history”.
“What I’m doing will make history, either in a positive or negative sense. For you, I don’t believe it (history) will record anything,” the unelected former head of SYRIZA human rights division told elected mayors from across Greece this week.
Immediate decisions to close down detention centers for third party nationals facing deportation, relaxed laws on citizenship and “looser border” patrol policy has brought Greece to the forefront of the European migrant crisis.

Essentially, the crisis-plagued country is now one of two main “gateways” for refugees seeking to reach west and northern Europe , as well as third world nationals from as far away as Bangladesh exploiting Mideast warfare in order to sneak into the Union for work and residency.
Meanwhile, the situation further north has caused one government, in Hungary, to call up more troops and police on its border, as tensions simmered due to Hungarian authorities move to fingerprint third country nationals claiming refugee status.

Hungarian police said they detained 3,241 migrants on Wednesday, m0re than 700 more than a day earlier and the highest number so far. Many are from Syria and want to reach richer EU countries to make an asylum claim.

Finally, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is joining western Balkan leaders at a summit Thursday in Vienna focusing on migration and anti-extremism.

The development came as shocking news emerged from Austria, where the bodies of up to 50 migrants were found in a truck.