Tension at Amygdaleza migrant detention center

Foreign detainees burn their clothes and shout “free-free”

Foreign detainees held for deportation burned their clothes and shouted “free-free”, according to reports, days after a pair of new ministers promised to close the facility where they are locked up.

Greek Alternate Civil Protection Minister Yiannis Panousis and Alternate Migrant Policy Minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou this week promised to close the Amygdaleza center in roughly 100 days. The plan is to open three new “hospitality centers” in the greater Athens area for third country nationals that have illegally entered the country, have been arrested and are not eligible for asylum.

The ministers cited the need hosting the detainees in humane living conditions.

On Tuesday, a couple of fires broke out in one of the containers in which undocumented migrants are held.

Police forces were dispatched to the scene, although no intervention was reported.

One report claims that 18 migrants escaped from the facility during the tension, although authorities have not confirmed the information.

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