(AFP) When plans were leaked last week to move dozens of asylum seekers from an island camp to a hotel in the northern Greek village of Arnissa, there was a swift and violent response.
Around 250 people burned and looted the empty hotel to prevent the transfer, according to eyewitnesses, in the latest tensions over the relocation of migrants in Greece.
“It was really scary. They threw stones, lit fires and ransacked the entire hotel,” said a young woman who declined to give her name.
“My father who is old and lives near the hotel hasn’t slept for two days because of his fear,” she told AFP.
The Greek government has promised to transfer more than 2,000 asylum seekers from islands to the mainland to ease pressure on camps.
