ATHENS — Greek police vowed Sunday not to relent in their efforts to evict undocumented immigrants after a sweep they said had netted 1,130 in central Athens over the weekend.
Police said a total of 4,900 people were rounded up in the capital on Saturday, of which 1,130 were detained. “The police operation to evict undocumented immigrants will continue,” a statement said.
AFP: Greek police detains 1,130 immigrants
From the news:
Operation Xenios Zeus, named after the name of the king of the ancient Greek gods in his role as protector of guests, mobilised 2,000 police in Athens and another 2,500 on Greece’s eastern border with Turkey.
Police spokesman Christos Manouras said Saturday the operation was a necessity for debt-laden Greece’s national survival.
“We must send the message that Greece cannot afford work and hospitality” to would-be immigrants, he said.[…]
But as the country struggles with a crippling economic crisis and sweeping austerity cuts, social tensions are on the rise and the increase in undocumented immigrants has fuelled xenophobia and racist attacks.
For the first time in Greek political history, the country in June voted into parliament a neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, which has promised to purge the country of illegal migrants.
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