Hundreds protest in Greece over migrant deaths

Demonstrators accuse government of ‘pushback policy’

Protesters in Athens call for an end to migrant 'pushbacks' and border violence. EPA

Hundreds of people protested in Athens after claims that brutal treatment of migrants at Greece's border with Turkey had led to the deaths of 19 people.

Turkish authorities said the frozen bodies had been found close to the border last week, and alleged that the migrants had been stripped of their clothes and pushed back into Turkey. Greece denies the claims.

About 700 people marched to Greece’s Parliament on Sunday, carrying a life raft resembling ones allegedly used by the Greek authorities to push back asylum seekers trying to reach its islands from across the Aegean Sea. They held banners reading "Stop pushbacks and border violence".

Human rights groups believe such actions, reported by migrants in different parts of the world, are designed to discourage them from trying to enter a particular country and to instead look for a different route.

Greece has consistently denied being involved in "pushbacks" – removing migrant boats from its waters – after a surge in attempted crossings from Turkey since March 2020.

The practice is said to sometimes involve boats blocking dinghies until they run out of fuel, upon which they are pushed or towed back into Turkish territorial waters.

The protest on Sunday followed a similar one the day before in Istanbul organised by Turkish humanitarian groups who marched to the Greek consulate in protest at the deaths of the 19 migrants near the land border.

Greece's Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi did not dispute the deaths but dismissed Turkey's version of events as "false propaganda".

"These migrants never made it to the border. Any suggestion they did, or indeed were pushed back into Turkey is utter nonsense," he said.

Greece claims Turkey is turning a blind eye to people trying to reach Europe via its border in violation of a 2016 deal between Ankara and the EU.

The agreement, which has been extended, involves the bloc handing billions of euros in aid to Ankara in exchange for Turkey agreeing to host millions of Syrian and other refugees.