The migration ministry said Thursday it has picked an abandoned former warehouse complex on the outskirts of Iraklion on Crete to be converted into a new temporary detention center for migrants reaching the southern island from north Africa.
Plans for a second migrant center on Crete, after the first one that has opened outside the town of Hania, have angered local residents in Iraklio, with scores of people gathering outside the proposed site late Wednesday to protest its potential selection.
Crete has seen a surge in migratory flows this year, with nearly 8,000 people arriving so far this year in small boats provided by smuggling rings, which depart from eastern Libya.
Total migrant arrivals nationwide since January 1 are just over 14,000, according to United Nations data.
Greek authorities say most of the people arriving on Crete are economic migrants rather than refugees, and have threatened tough measures to dissuade them from making the journey.
