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Refugee boats continued to arrive in Greece in the eastern Mediterranean, despite a recent deal between the European Union (EU) and Turkey – whereby refugees will be deported back to Turkey – coming into effect.
At least five boats, carrying more than 30 refugees each, arrived from Turkey between Saturday midnight – when the agreement came into force – and yesterday morning.
The majority of the refugees who arrived were from Syria, said Al Jazeera’s reporting from the Greek island of Lesbos.
Under the deal struck on Saturday, for every Syrian returned, the EU will resettle one from a Turkish refugee camp.
But people who managed to reach Europe’s shores were hopeful they would not be turned back.
“I don’t think they will reject us because we are coming from a destroyed city. We are asking for asylum on humanitarian grounds,” Ahmed, a refugee from Aleppo, told Al Jazeera upon his arrival in Lesbos.
