On Wednesday morning, July 16, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, spoke on SKAI about measures regarding migration, border protection, and police operations in Roma settlements. “We must respect humanitarianism, but we must protect our borders. Europe now is very different from what it was in 2020, it has a different policy,” he said initially.
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He estimated that “I see very difficult solutions” with the traffickers of illegal migrants, because “the tariff is very expensive for someone to go from Libya to Italy or Greece,” however, he conveyed, “we will guard our borders, we will fight, we have no other choice. Those who pretend to be supposedly sensitive to the world, let them be left to come“.
He reminded, in fact, that “there are 10 million Sudanese victims of civil war and 10 million Egyptians who want to leave their country, we cannot solve the problem ourselves. We are alone in this“.
Michalis Chrysochoidis: There is no corner in Roma settlements where police are not present
Regarding police work, Mr. Chrysochoidis initially referred to operations in Roma settlements throughout Greece.
“The police are inside the settlements every day, there is not a corner where they don’t conduct operations. We also have a reduction in incidents. Unfortunately, there was tolerance for these issues for many years. There are settlements where everyone lives from electricity theft,” said Mr. Chrysochoidis.
Presenting the relevant data, he said that “there are areas that have 400-500 defendants or convicts and 80% are Roma. Everyone must assume their responsibilities in the social field as well“.
He also expressed hope that “by the end of the year there will be no Greek motorcycle driver without a helmet“.
Finally, regarding the incident with the parking attendant and the traffic accident in Kolonaki, he sent the message that “the law will be enforced there and everywhere. When I first took office, the bouncers were outside the centers and acted as parking attendants, now there is one parking attendant per store. The phenomenon of bouncers outside nightclubs is not acceptable“.
