Angry Greeks Protest Against Building MORE Migrant Camps

Furious Greek islanders have set up ongoing protests in Athens against Government plans to build more detention camps on already struggling islands - including Lesbos and Samos. Currently there are already at least 20,000 refugees at ONE facility on Lesbos.

Lesbos, Samos and three other islands in the eastern Aegean Sea are struggling to cope with severe overcrowding at camps for refugees and migrants following a surge in arrivals from nearby Turkey.

In mid February, the Greek government announced an initiative to build detention facilities on the five islands, arguing that the move is vital to properly organise the registration of asylum seekers and deport migrants denied international protection.

But island authorities, along with local residents, are planning legal challenges and blockades at the sites where the new camps are planned, to try to block construction.

Stratis Kytelis, mayor of Lesbos capital Mytilene, said the protests had started after the government failed to fulfil a pledge to drastically reduce the number of migrants on the island over the winter months.

'People on the islands ... opened their homes and gave what little they had to help (refugees) but unfortunately, because of bad policies the situation is now out of control,' he said.