Major migrant protest grinds Athens’ main train station to a standstill (VIDEOS, PHOTO)
Athens’ Larisis Station has been brought to a standstill with all services in and out suspended due to a sit-down protest by a group of migrants seeking passage to the Greek border.
Railway services operator TrainOSE has also temporarily halted the issuing of tickets while Friday’s protest is ongoing. A police riot squad has been deployed to the scene and are monitoring the situation. Some protesters have reportedly begun walking along the tracks towards Thessaloniki.
The roughly 100 to 150 migrants and refugees are demanding to be transported to Diavata in northern Greece, near the Greek border, with a view to reopening a migration route towards northern Europe that opened in 2016.
Some 500 migrants have gathered at an encampment in a cornfield in Diavata since Thursday following calls on social media to make a break for the border.
Greek Minister on Migration Policy Dimitris Vitsas said “the borders are and will remain closed and it goes without saying that we will not allow irregular movements,”Thema News reports.
He added that the migrants had fallen victim to misinformation, most likely from human traffickers whom he said had told them "for some inexplicable reason that they will open the border.”
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