Amidst fierce reactions in Parliament, the coalition government was forced to withdraw a provision regarding the deportation of immigrants for the second time in 24 hours. According to the provision immigrants found guilty of falsely reporting racist violence from the police will be deported.
The Deputy Minister of Interior Leonidas Grigorakos first withdrew the controversial provision yesterday, after both the leaders of the opposition SYRIZA and coalition government partner PASOK reacted. Mr. Grigorakos resubmitted an “improved” version of the provision later, however he was forced to withdraw it once again due to the reactions.
Mr. Grigorakos tried to justify the repeated withdrawal by stressing that the commotion caused in parliament was due to the wrong impression as to the provision’s intent, which according to the Minister “was not to deter any reports of racist violence”.
