150 Syrian Refugees ‘Disappear’ From Greek Village in Police Crackdown

Locals Fear Police Forced Refugees Back to Turkey

Locals and human rights activists are up in arms today in the remote Greek village of Praggi, where some 150 Syrian refugees who were living in the courtyard of the local church have mysteriously “disappeared.”

The only clue about what happened is that white police vans were seen moving toward the church. After that, all the Syrians were simply gone.

Greek police have been very open about their desire to make life “unbearable” for refugees to convince them to flee somewhere else, but they’ve so far been mum on the Praggi refugees. It is believed they were forced back across the border into Turkey.

Other refugees have had much the same experience with fleeing to Greece, reporting routine beatings and general abuse much in the vein of what they were fleeing from in he first place.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.