Samos

The Famous Samos Wine: The Best “Ambassador” of Greek Wines Abroad

Police on the Greek island of Samos on Dec. 19 fired tear gas to disperse asylum-seekers protesting dismal conditions at their severely overcrowded camp, state agency ANA said.

The mainly African asylum-seekers blocked a road near the camp and threw stones at police, the agency said.

Samos Mayor Giorgos Stantzos has appealed to islanders to join a rally planned for 4 p.m. on Monday, calling on the central government to intervene and ease overcrowding at the Vathy migrant reception facility. 

A mild earthquake occurred on Thursday at 11.39 a.m. in a sea area off the eastern Aegean island of Samos.
According to the Athens Geodynamic Institute, the epicenter of the 4.8-magnitude quake was 35 kilometers northeast of Samos.
No damage or injuries were reported. 

Despite the bad weather, dozens of undocumented migrants made the short but perilous crossing to the Aegean islands from Turkey in the last few days of the year.

The mayor of Samos, Michalis Angelopoulos, has written to Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas calling for the immediate transfer of migrants from the island's identification and processing center, or hotspot, to the mainland due to overcrowding.

The facility on the island is currently hosting 5,000 migrants and refugees - much more than the 648 it was designed to hold.

A delegation from Samos is to travel to Athens in the coming days to present its objections to plans for a new migration reception center at a military facility on the island to officials of the Migration Ministry and the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (GEETHA). 

Protesters will converge outside the Immigration Policy Ministry on Tuesday to demand immediate relief for the eastern Aegean islands of Samos, Lesvos and Chios, where facilities for migrants and refugees are overflowing with thousands of stranded asylum seekers.

As dozens of migrants continue to land daily on the shores of eastern Aegean islands, and tensions rise in reception centers, local communities are becoming increasingly divided over growing migrant populations, Ekathimerini writes.

Naxos, Paros, Kalymnos, Leros are the four islands of the South Aegean Region that are part of the approved Strategic Plan of the South Aegean Region for the construction of diving parks.