More than 2,000 migrants are arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos every single day, even during the colder winter months.
Authorities said yesterday that 6,000 people have arrived on the island during the past three days alone, despite bad weather in the Mediterranean.
The Daily Mail reports that most are arriving in small wooden boats and dinghies, crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey, with the Hellenic Coast Guard saying some 2,090 had arrived in Lesbos over the past 24 hours.
Although numbers are down on the 7,000 who arrived every day last summer, there is no let up in sight, and the numbers look set to rise again as spring draws near.
During British Prime Minister David Cameron’s negotiation efforts on Thursday night, his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras told European leaders: “We need to help the UK, but the UK has only got a referendum in June and we have a crisis hitting us today.”
The European Union has demanded that Greece open five new migrant processing centres as it struggles to deal with the massive influx. Although four are now open, Breitbart London reported earlier this week that the fifth, based on the island of Kos, is being held up due to mass protests by islanders.
Police used tear gas as around 2,000 of the island’s 30,000 residents protested against the centre over concerns it will severely damage tourism, the island’s main industry. Hotel bookings are already down by a third, and islanders fear the sprawling new migrant camp will only put more people off.
The influx comes as the head of Europe’s police agency warned that at up to 5,000 jihadis are currently at large in Europe after returning from training with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Europol Chief Rob Wainwright said that risk of a terror attack in Europe is now at its highest for many years.
“Europe is currently facing the highest terror threat in more than ten years,” he said.
“We can expect Isil or other religious terror groups to stage an attack somewhere in Europe with the aim of achieving mass casualties among the civilian population.”
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