Tension has been running high among migrants and asylum seekers in Greece, including Palestinian refugees, as Greek government officials, in cooperation with a delegation of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), toured migrant camps pitched on Greek islands.

The delegations paid visits to buildings and shelters housing migrants and asylum seekers and officially notified them that holders of visa cards will have their cash allowances suspended pending their transfer to the Greek mainland by the end of this month.

The decision will leave over 11,000 refugees and asylum seekers homeless.

Earlier this year, the Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection issued a decision to evacuate all buildings housing migrant residents who have received visas or subsidiary protection cards in Greece since 2017.

The Ministry said the eviction should be carried out no later than April 2020.

Activists said the move dovetails the country’s attempt to rein in the influx of migrants and overcrowdings on its islands.

The activists further warned of the fallouts of the decision, which they said will result in increasing numbers of homeless refugees who will be left with neither food nor shelter and be denied their basic human rights.

Palestinian refugees who have fled war-stricken zones and economic hardship to Greece have been denied their rights to visas and prevented from accessing vital facilities.

Activists held the Greek authorities responsible for the mounting tension in overcrowded migrant facilities, saying refugees have been psychologically distressed due to the substandard living conditions they have been made to endure in reception centers and the absence of life-saving healthcare services at a time when reports of coronavirus cases have soared.

The migrants, including hundreds of Palestinian refugees, have been subjected to dire conditions on the island and deprived of their basic human rights, including access to water, power, and relief services.

Recently, human rights groups have warned that Greek police have been using tear gas, water cannon, and stun grenades to push back the border crossers. Turkey has accused Greek forces of shooting and killing at least four migrants – a charge Greece denies.

Greek authorities have made no secret of their resolve and even their use of aggressive tactics to block illegal crossings. But the government in Athens is denying accusations of deadly attacks on migrants.

In a March 17 report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Greek security forces and unidentified armed men at the Greece-Turkey land border have detained, assaulted, sexually assaulted, robbed, and stripped asylum seekers and migrants, then forced them back to Turkey.

“The European Union is hiding behind a shield of Greek security force abuse instead of helping Greece protect asylum seekers and relocate them safely throughout the EU,” said Nadia Hardman, refugee rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. “The EU should protect people in need rather than support forces who beat, rob, strip, and dump asylum seekers and migrants back across the river.”

Between March 7 and 9, Human Rights Watch interviewed 21 asylum seekers and migrants, 17 of whom were men and 4 women, in Turkey about how they tried to enter Greece over the land border following the Turkish government’s February 27 announcement that it would no longer stop asylum seekers and migrants from leaving Turkey to reach the European Union.

All those interviewed said that within hours after they crossed in boats or waded through the river, armed men wearing various law enforcement uniforms or in civilian clothes, including all in black with balaclavas, intercepted everyone in their group. All said the men detained them in official or informal detention centers, or on the roadside, and stole their money, mobile phones, and bags before summarily pushing them back to Turkey.

Seventeen interviewees also described how the men assaulted them and others, including women and children, through electric shocks, beating with wooden or metal rods, prolonged beating of the soles of feet, punching, kicking, and stomping.