Greece claims ‘invasion’ in Crete as it tries to halt asylum on Med route

In the middle of a cave hall, a cave, the men sit in silence without anything they only occupy waiting.

Signs of an old tourist exhibition, behind visitors, urge to “explore the beauty of nature” with illustrations of the defect and beaches on the island of Crete.

But those who were held in the center of the exhibition of Aya did not come to the Greek island as vacationers. They are immigrants who risk a trip across the sea from Libya to the southern end of Europe, then they were seized and deprived of the right to apply for asylum.

From Crete, they are now transferred to closed facilities on the mainland.

The right to seek any person to protect, or asylum, listed in the European Union, international law and the constitution of Greece itself. But in a step that was implemented in hurry earlier this month and was criticized by human rights lawyers, the government has disrupted this principle at least the next three months.

The new Minister of Immigration, Thanos Bulvis, told BBC his country facing “a state of emergency.” He talks about the “conquest” and the need for strong deterrence. “Anyone who comes to be held and returns,”

Now people fleeing the war in Sudan are detained without an opportunity to explain their story.

Inside the old exhibition center, migrants were warned against speaking to us by the guards. We were told, “They are protesting.”

Greece baked in a heat wave and many men were in jackets or stripped to the waist. There were a few water taps around the edges, but there was no suitable shower and only narrow blankets on the floor. Funds of clothes and the donated toys accumulated from the door to emptying the guards, cautious about provoking the battles.

For two days, we saw a few hundred immigrants in AYIA – from countries including Egypt, Bangladesh and Yemen, we heard, as well as Sudan.

There were 20 or so, the children of adolescents and two women sitting at the back.

But when 900 people fell from Libya during one weekend earlier this month, the facility extended to the maximum.

More than 7,000 migrants arrived in Crete between January and late June, more than three times the number in 2024.

In all, the European Union border agency has registered approximately 20,000 crossings in the eastern Mediterranean in that period, with the improved corridor Libya is now the main road.

Streamwathers began sending people to Crete seriously after Italy signed a very controversial deal with Libya two years ago, which allows to interfere with migrants at sea and respond despite extensive evidence of human rights violations.

It was mid -July when the government in Athens took its own step.

“The road to Greece,” said Prime Minister Kiriacos Mitsotakis.

A few days later, Mustafa-the 20-year-old was arrested and ran from the war in Sudan-.

From AYIA was transferred to a camp outside Athens known as Amygdaleza, rows of pre -gray huts in the clearing surrounded by long fences and security cameras.

Mustafa told me when I managed to call on the phone: “We live here like prison.” “They do not allow us to move. We do not have clothes or shoes. We are very bad.”

Lawyers who visited Amygdaleza confirm his account, described the new arrivals who walk barefoot on hot soil bread and receive minimal information. Usually, Sudanese citizens will be granted asylum in Europe.

In a series of voice messages and text messages, Mustafa narrated how months spent harsh conditions in Libya pending his chance to cross. At the sea was at the sea for two days with 38 people who were crammed on a plastic boat that had to be saved. “We could not reach [land] Because of the waves.

After he survived this ordeal, he is now afraid of Greece you will try to return it.

Mustafa said: “I left my country because of the war, I cannot return,” Mustafa said. “I came from Sudan because there is a war in Sudan and I want to protect. That is why I came here.”

“Now we don’t know what our fate will be.”

The Greek Immigration Minister describes himself as a “hardline” of immigration.

“It is clear that a country cannot accept such pressure from immigration, not a response,”

He claimed that Crete was receiving “one, two, three thousand people per day” from Libya when it intervened, although he then expanded “near a thousand” in three days, when he faced the appeal.

Plevris has no concerns about blocking the right to seek asylum, indicating that Sudanese refugees can simply stay in Libya.

“I want to be completely honest. We are trying to achieve a balance between respecting their rights and respecting people in Greece,” the minister was firm. “Anyone who enters Greek lands during the next three months knows that he violates Greek law.”

The European Commission says it is “looking” in this step.

A BBC spokesman said that the situation was “an exception” because the increase in young boats was “possible consequences in European security.”

Poland also stopped asylum applications on its eastern border in March, despite various exceptions. Greece itself previously did in 2020 during an increase in expatriates from Türkiye.

Some of the European Conference on Human Rights can be overcome “in wartime or other general emergencies that threaten the life of the nation.”

Whether the current situation constitutes such a wrong threat to Poland or Greece is very disputed.

“This article is intended for the huge war or uprising,” says Dimitris Furakis, a lawyer who works widely with immigrants on Crete and sees a disturbing trend throughout Europe.

It warns that the detention centers will fill quickly as well, as it is easy to say “send immigrants” but it is very difficult to do.

“I think it is a completely illegal decision,” the lawyer says.

The increase in the expatriates came to young boats as the beaches and bars of Crete were filled with summer, and the Minister of Immigration says that protecting the tourism industry is his priority.

“I have never seen any immigrants before,” Andreas Logax, the owner of a restaurant in the beautiful village of Paleochora on the southern coast, admits that boats reach the small island of Gafdos.

Even talking about their arrival is bad to work.

Andreas says: “We feel sad for these people, of course, but … people believe that this place is full of migrants; there are no beaches available, no place.” “We are only concerned about our work and our families.”

The asylum suspension is part of a much broader campaign on irregular immigrants here. The minister plans to imprison all those who fail to leave Greece when their asylum application is rejected and the use of electronic signs of monitoring.

He also promised a “radical review” of the benefits.

In claiming that “millions” in North Africa are about to cross into Europe, citing talks in Libya, Belvesy indicates that other countries must be grateful for its design.

“You should know that if the countries on the borders of the European Union do not take difficult measures, all this flow of immigrants will be directed to your societies,” he warns. “Greece used to say that before, but at that time, no one listened.”

Every evening, while the sky turns over Crete to Orange, the Coast Guard is accompanied by a group of immigrants to the port and on the night phrase of Athens.

When the number of expatriates increased earlier this month, they struggled to find space on board.

The minister insists on the suspension of asylum rights is a temporary step, most likely only in the summer.

It seems that the strong winds instead of government determination slowed the flow of boats at the present time.

But this step has sparked concerns about how governments can easily ignore the basic right in the name of security. It also leaves huge questions to those like Mustafa from Sudan, who fled the war, and are now being held in Europe.