Activists in the sea try to interfere the deportation of Pakistani migrants on board a ferry set to sail for Turkey in the port of Mytilini of the Greek island of Lesbos. (AP)
LESBOS, Greece — Amid protests, Greece yesterday resumed deportations of refugees and migrants from its islands to Turkey after a four-day pause, sending back 45 people from Lesbos to a nearby port on the Turkish coast.
Before the boat left the island, four activists jumped into the sea to try to obstruct the operation — swimming to the front of the ferry and grabbing the anchor chain — and were detained by the coast guard.
The boat later docked in the Turkish port of Dikili. A further 79 people were being placed on a second boat on Lesbos by officers from the European Union’s border protection agency, to be deported later Friday.
An agreement between Turkey and the European Union went into full effect Monday, when 202 migrants were sent back.
Some 4,000 migrants and refugees who reached Greek islands from nearby Turkey after March 20 are being held in detention camps to be screened for deportation.
The returns have been held up by delays in processing asylum claims by overwhelmed Greek authorities who are also preparing to deal with applications across the country by some 50,000 stranded migrants and refugees promised places in a slow-moving EU relocation scheme.
On Greek islands, protests continued at overcrowded detention camps.
Police cleared the main port on the island of Chios overnight, where scores of migrants had been camped out for a week after pushing their way out of a detention camp.
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