Trapped in Greece: A Report about Experiences of Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Border Policemen during the Early Weeks of the Operation Xenios Zeus

The harbour city of Patras exemplifies the quintessential problematic of the current situation of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Greece. In daily confrontations, migrants and asylum seekers, who seek shelter in an abandoned factory that overlooks the port, try to find a way onto a ferry to leave for northern European countries. At the same time the task of the border police is to prevent them from doing so. This article attempts to capture this tension and the way it represents the current situation of asylum seekers and undocumented
migrants in Greece, in particular under the impression of the newly launched operation Xenios Zeus, intended to ‘crack down on illegal immigration’.