Athens protesters chant ‘open the borders’ ahead of migrant returns

Hundreds of human rights activists, students and migrants have taken to the streets of Athens chanting “open the borders.”


The migrants were some of the thousands left stranded in Greece because of frontier closures across the Balkans.
The show of anger on Wednesday cam just days before Turkey is due to start taking back illegal migrants from Greece under an EU deal – a deal the demonstrators demanded be scrapped.
“We want nothing from the Greek government. They themselves are in trouble, the Greek economy right now,” said one migrant from Afghanistan.
“We’re asking the world, the big countries, to open the borders for us. We’re not here for money. We’re here for a safe place. We want a peaceful land on the planet.”

“They’re calling for the EU-Turkey deal to not be implemented so that they have a chance to continue their journey to Europe.”