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Greece's left-wing government on Tuesday criticized a parents association which is threatening to block refugees and migrants from attending an elementary school in the north of the country
The parents association of the school in the town of Oraiokastro said its members would occupy the building in protest if refugees from nearby camps were allowed to attend
Greek schools started Monday and the government is planning to integrate more than 15,000 refugee and migrant children into the national education system
It was not immediately clear how many refugee and migrant children were planned for the school in Oraiokastro
criticized the parents association but did not say whether the government would take action against it
There is prejudice,” Filis told private Real FM radio
“Fortunately this is the reaction of a very small minority of parents.”
since an immunization program is included in the school integration scheme
The extreme-right Golden Dawn party praised the parents' action as “resistance to Islamization and efforts to undermine the education system.”
Some 60,000 refugees and migrants remain stranded in Greece due to European border closures earlier this year – most living in camps on the Greek mainland – at old army bases
and a dilapidated sports complex used for the 2004 Athens Olympics
The government has promised to create more permanent structures for migrant accommodation as Europe Union countries have failed to keep up with relocation commitments
Refugees and migrants continue to travel from Turkey to Greece – though in lower numbers – following a March agreement to fight trafficking and deport new arrivals
Greek authorities said 183 people had arrived on Greek islands from the Turkish coast in the 24 hours from early Monday morning to early Tuesday morning
a wooden sailboat carrying 49 migrants arrived safely at the Greek island of Samos under escort by the Greek coast guard and European border patrol agency Frontex
The nationalities of those on board were not immediately available
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Hellenic Post (ELTA) is accelerating its digital transformation process with the aim of reducing service time and improving the performance indicators of the state-owned company
on Friday ELTA will inaugurate the second digital sorting center in the country
at the sorting center of Oraiokastro in Thessaloniki
The facility includes 45 small robotic appliances of a type that will be on display in action at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF)
The robotic systems are capable of handling 3,000 parcels per hour and operate with artificial intelligence technology
Some 1,500 child refugees are to start lessons at Greek schools on Monday afternoon
at 20 schools with another 20,000 refugee children to be inducted into classes at other schools in due course
In comments to state television ERT on Sunday
Education Minister Nikos Filis said that "Greek society is ready to embrace the children of refugees," describing opposition by parents at some schools across the country as "isolated cases."
The Greek chapter of the International Organization for Migration commissioned 12 buses to transport refugee children from reception centers to local schools
A police investigation has shed light into a clash between drug and arms dealers and anarchists in the central Athens neighborhood of Exarchia
Meanwhile 29 Greek and Albanian nationals are to face charges in the wake of a major police crackdown in the area
During the operation carried out between December and March 9 police tapped phone conversations and infiltrated the ranks of the suspects as they sought to control the drug trade in Exarchia Square and nearby pedestrian Mesolongiou Street
The suspects allegedly sold cannabis to users in 2- and 4-gram bags at 10 and 20 euros respectively
They also sold 1-gram cocaine wraps for 55 euros
Police say the drugs were mixed with adulterants before being sold on the street
Police say the racket employed Algerian migrants as dealers and often resorted to threats and violence to intimidate the competition
one of the suspects urges a 25-year-old accomplice
nicknamed “Levendis,” to join him in an attack on Egyptian street vendors
“I’ll have something to eat and I’ll join you,” says the other
Investigators found that the suspects were also selling weapons
Speaking to one of his accomplices in December
one of the suspects brags about a newly purchased air gun
It can take out the best of them at a distance of 3 meters.”
The drug traffickers were repeatedly targeted by anarchists
a group of anarchists vandalized a restaurant on Andreas Metaxas Street believed to be a gang hangout
anarchists raided an apartment used as a drug den by the racket
“The regular assaults and the daily drug trafficking made the members of the organization undesirables in the area
resulting in initially sporadic and subsequently more frequent attacks by hooded [individuals] against members of the criminal organization,” a police report said
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