Too many immigrants

Municipal authorities on the island of Patmos, in the Dodecanese, have said they are blocking their ports to would-be migrants coming from Turkey, as the unwanted visitors have exceeded the number of permanent residents on the island.

A total of 3,931 immigrants have arrived on the island so far this year, many transferred from the nearby islet of Agathonisi, where they had been abandoned by smugglers. This far exceeds the 3,000-strong population of Patmos, locals complained. Authorities on Agathonisi, which has only 100 residents, have also had enough. “We are not going to take them in anymore,” said community leader Evangelos Kottoros. Authorities said they have asked the Interior Ministry to set up a port authority unit on the islet to tackle the problem more effectively.

Meanwhile, hundreds of migrants waiting on Patmos for their fate to be decided have been put up temporarily in an old nightclub where conditions are said to be squalid. The owner of the old nightclub reportedly was the only local who agreed to help the migrants and this decision is believed to have been motivated by the 180,000 euros he is to receive from the Interior Ministry for his services.

But the least accepting of the migrants on Patmos, a popular tourist resort, is the local union of hoteliers. In a letter to the ministry, the union claims to be “totally against the transformation of sacred Patmos into a ghetto for hungry immigrants from Africa and Asia.” The hoteliers say the island must remain “traditional, clean and safe,” adding that it “cannot be promoted as a destination for high-end tourism on the one hand and permit hundreds of illegal immigrants to wander around hungry and dirty, begging and stealing from tourists.”
eKathimerini