By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – Greece’s main opposition SYRIZA party warned Thursday against a rise in anti-migrant sentiment over allegations that wildfires in the northern Evros region were started by some migrants.
Noting that 18 people thought to be irregular migrants were killed in wildfires in the region, SYRIZA said in a statement that migrants have become scapegoats for the inability of the government to deal effectively with the fires, as if they are also to blame for all of Greece that is burning.
The statement also accused the government of sending messages of hate cultivating the feeling of an external enemy.
“Prosecutors must intervene immediately against any call for pogroms by unsolicited militiamen in Evros,” it said, adding the country faces a danger of fascism which spreads violence “in the mountains of Evros, in the neighborhoods of Athens, in the dark alleys.”
On Wednesday, Greece's Supreme Court Prosecutor Georgia Adeilini reacted to the disastrous wildfires in Alexandroupolis and a racist incident which involved the locking of 25 migrants in a truck trailer and live broadcasting it while chanting racist slogans.
He called for an inquiry into the causes of the catastrophic fire in the northeastern region of Evros and a detailed investigation into the racist incident, which surfaced following the deaths of 18 people believed to be asylum seekers in Dadia Forest in the region on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people protested in the capital Athens against the government’s handling of the fires, which they called ineffective and insufficient, and the rising anti-migrant sentiment.
On Friday evening, PAME, a major trade union, will also hold a rally to protest against the government over the wildfires.