Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Europe

The Latest: Greek government paves way for migration deal

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • faf57766-
    Image 1 of 3

    Syrian families embark a bus, transferring them to the western coastal Greek town of Kyllini, from the Athens port of Piraeus, Thursday, March 31, 2016. Hundreds of Syrian refugees began leaving the port after translators provided by the government convinced them to be transferred to camps that would provide safe and clean living conditions. More than 50,000 migrants remain stranded in Greece following border restrictions and closures by Austria and Balkan nations. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (The Associated Press)

  • 58cd1291-
    Image 2 of 3

    Syrian families embark a bus, transferring them to the western coastal Greek town of Kyllini, from the Athens port of Piraeus, Thursday, March 31, 2016. Hundreds of Syrian refugees began leaving the port after translators provided by the government convinced them to be transferred to camps that would provide safe and clean living conditions. More than 50,000 migrants remain stranded in Greece following border restrictions and closures by Austria and Balkan nations. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (The Associated Press)

  • c9945634-
    Image 3 of 3

    A refugee boy looks on from a tent in a makeshift camp at Idomeni border station on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia, photographed through a fence from the Macedonian side of the border line, Thursday, March 31, 2016. More than 50,000 migrants remain stranded in Greece following border restrictions and closures by Austria and Balkan nations. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) (The Associated Press)

PIRAEUS, Greece – The Latest on the flow of refugees and other migrants into Europe (all times local):

11:55 a.m.

Greece's government has submitted draft legislation to parliament required for a landmark migration agreement reached this month by the European Union and Turkey to take full effect.

The bill, due to be voted on late Friday, would upgrade Greek asylum services and set conditions for refugees and migrants to be sent back to Turkey from the Greek islands.

The returns are due to start Monday, but most support staff promised by European Union countries have still not arrived on Greek islands, and the method of return is still being negotiated between the EU, Turkey and Greece.

More than 3,000 people who have arrived since March 20 have been arrested and are being detained on Greek islands. A detention facility on the island of Chios is already nearly 50 percent over capacity, with protests by detainees occurring daily.

___

11:15 a.m.

Greek authorities say a fight broke out overnight between groups of migrants camping out in Greece's main port of Piraeus, injuring eight.

The coast guard said Thursday the three-hour fight, believed to have been between Afghans and Syrians, broke out at about 10 p.m. Wednesday. The aftermath was visible Thursday, with rocks and broken glass strewn on the street.

Eight people were being treated in a nearby hospital.

More than 50,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece after Balkan countries closed their borders to the massive refugee flow. Under a European Union-Turkey agreement, those arriving from the nearby Turkish coast to Greek islands since March 20 will be sent back.

Hundreds of those camping out in Piraeus were boarding buses Thursday for refugee camps elsewhere in Greece.