Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias told Skai on Tuesday that the police’s «Xenios Zeus” operation aimed at tackling illegal immigration will continue until the end of the year with raids being extended beyond the capital to other cities where the population of undocumented migrants has been growing.
Raids will focus on apartment blocks and other premises believed to pose a public health risk, Dendias said.
The minister added that three new temporary reception centers for migrants would be created by the end of the year, without determining their location, but emphasized that the centers would not create problems for local commmunities.
Meanwhile Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis stressed that authorities would not violate the basic rights of migrants during the raids. «Whoever is found to be in the country illegally must be arrested but with full respect for human rights,» he told Skai.
More than 12,000 migrants have been stopped and questioned by officers since earlier this month when the “Xenios Zeus” operation was launched.
Source: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_28/08/2012_458529
