The refugees who have sought shelter in the Pedion tou Areos park in down town Athens for the past couple weeks will be relocated to a new camp in the area of Eleonas (also known as ‘Votanikos’) by Tuesday.

Preparations are escalating, with the Municipality of Athens announcing that major efforts have been made to prepare the new 40-acre camp. Many of the containers that have been installed in the camp were used to house victims of the major earthquake in 1999.

The necessary plans are also being implemented so that the camp is connected to the electrical grid and sewage system. Talks were also carried out with locally residing Roma gypsies, who have agreed to be relocated to a nearby area.