Over 1,350 Migrants Arrive on Greek Islands in Single Weekend

Sept. 9, 2015 – Kos, Greece – A group of a few hundreds of migrants in Kos town harbor awaiting to enter to the ferry to Athens. The head of the European Union’s executive says 22 of the member states should be forced to accept another 120,000 people in need of international protection who have come toward the continent at high risk through Greece, Italy and Hungary. (Credit Image: © Artur Widak / NurPhoto via ZUMA Press)

The Greek coastguard has said more than 1,350 migrants arrived on various islands in the Aegean Sea over the weekend, as tensions boil in the already overcrowded camps.

The coastguard said they picked up a total of 658 migrants from Friday to Monday morning and added that another 730 migrants had managed to land on the coast of one of the Aegean islands near Turkey, newspaper Courrier International reports.

The new migrant flows come as the already overcrowded camps on islands like Lesbos and Samos are looking to transfer around 20,000 migrants to the Greek mainland to decrease the congestion in camps where 32,000 live in spaces designated for just 6,200.

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Many in Greece are not happy about the redistribution of migrants from the Aegean islands to the mainland, including the right-wing group Enomenoi Macedonia (United Macedonians), which this month organised a pork and wine barbeque protest resulting in accusations of racism.

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