Greece Begins Moving Migrants and Refugees

Greek authorities on Thursday began relocating hundreds of migrants and refugees to accommodation in other parts of Greece from a port near Athens, ahead of their relocation to Turkey.

Nearly 6,000 people, most from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have been stuck at the port of Piraeus in conditions described as filthy and apt for conflict.

Scuffles have broken out at the port, where people live in tents or on blankets in the open, with poor sanitation and little food.

Ahmad Alakk, 23, an engineering student from Homs in Syria who has been stuck in Piraeus for 10 days, said police appeared only to be allowing Syrians to board the buses.

"They told us that here (in Piraeus) there are no services, no shower, nothing. (But we are) afraid to move to a place we don't know. We heard it's like a prison there, it's far away from everything," he said.

51,000 refugees and migrants are trapped in Greece after Balkan countries shut their borders this month, preventing them from moving on to other parts of Europe where they had hope to start a new life.

A report by AFP indicated that the first group of migrants and refugees will arrive in Turkey on Monday, however neither side is fully ready, with officials scrambling to be able to make at least a symbolic start as new arrivals rise with the advent of warmer weather in the Aegean.

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UNHCR Slams New EU-Turkey Deal that Sends Migrants to Detention

Under a deal the European Union reached with Turkey this month, migrants who arrive in Greece from Turkey after March 20 are held in camps and are subject to being sent back to Turkey once their asylum claims have been processed.

The same deal also specifies that one Syrian refugee will be settled in Europe in return for every migrant taken back by Turkey from Greece.

The Greek parliament is expected to vote on Friday on a bill to facilitate the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal.