Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis has announced measures to tackle the practice of renting out flats in central Athens to groups of 20 to 30 migrants, who are charged between €10 and €30 a night for somewhere to sleep.

Speaking to SKAI television, Chrysochoidis said: “We are introducing legislation to ban these rentals and sublets, and police operations will begin to throw them out, alongside measures to maintain security in public squares.”

“Anyone who commits a crime and is not remanded in custody should leave Greece, even if they are subject to restrictive conditions. Nobody came here to commit crimes. There are detention facilities run by the Greek police for those awaiting deportation. These centres will be filled with people who have come here and are committing crimes,” he added.

Describing the situation, Chrysochoidis said: “In areas of central Athens, such as Patissia and Agios Panteleimonas, there are Greek property owners who make flats available. A foreign national rents the flat and then charges a poor migrant between €10 and €30 a night for somewhere to sleep. The result is that 30 people end up staying in these flats.”

He also claimed that some foreign nationals in central Athens were involved in criminal activity, saying: “They did not come here to work but to commit crimes.”

“In the coming period, we will work to ensure that public safety and peace become a reality in areas with large foreign populations,” the minister said.

Tougher penalties for telephone scams targeting elderly people and minors

Turning to telephone fraud, Chrysochoidis said that “every other day, eight Roma are arrested in homes where they have set up telephone call centres” used to carry out scams.

He reiterated that legislation would be submitted within days to classify such fraud as a serious offence, with particularly severe penalties where victims are elderly people or minors.

Under the proposed provision, he said, these offences would be treated as felonies even when the amount involved is as little as €1.

“At some point, we will eliminate this phenomenon. You can be sure of that,” Chrysochoidis said.