Rising Xenophobia Threatens Migrants in Greece, UN-Backed Network Warns

Coordinated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), this network brings together around forty human rights NGOs.

These organizations are witnessing the deplorable living conditions of more than 34,000 migrants, who currently live on the five "hot-spot" islands, designed to accommodate an average of 6,300, the RVRN specifies.

The same source indicates that the reception on the Greek mainland has encountered hostile reactions.

Among these reactions, there are demonstrations against the arrival of asylum seekers organized in several cities of the country, notably in Yannitsa (north), Nea Vrasna (north) and in Naoussa (Peloponnese), and the assault of an Iranian student on the way out of his school in Thessaloniki.

A police investigation has therefore been opened, the same source said. In addition, there is the incident created by a group of nationalists who invited residents to a barbecue with pork and alcohol, in front of a refugee camp in Diavata (north).