(AP) Amnesty International on Thursday criticized Greece’s plans to deploy a floating barrier as a way to prevent migrants from reaching the Greek islands from nearby Turkey.
The international rights group’s research director for Europe, Massimo Moratti, described the plan as “an alarming escalation in the Greek government’s ongoing efforts to make it as difficult as possible for asylum-seekers and refugees to arrive on its shores.”
Greece’s Defense Ministry has invited private contractors to bid on supplying a 2.7-kilometer (1.7-mile) long floating fence within three months. A government official told the Associated Press the contract process would be executed by the Defense Ministry but was for civilian use, similar to the military’s supply of equipment for housing in refugee camps.
