A chaotic uprising at a migrant detention center near the Greece-Bulgaria border led to the escape of 35 asylum seekers, prompting a large-scale police response to recapture the fleeing individuals.

Over the weekend, tensions at a migrant detention center in Sintiki, Greece, escalated into a violent uprising. According to authorities, detainees clashed with security personnel, throwing stones and breaching perimeter defenses. The chaos allowed 35 individuals to escape, with police later apprehending 17 of them while 18 remain unaccounted for. The facility is situated near the Bulgaria border and houses asylum seekers awaiting immigration decisions or deportations.

The unrest reportedly began on Saturday when detainees attempted to flee by cutting through a section of the facility’s fencing. Security forces were called in to subdue the situation, deploying stun grenades to restore order. The confrontation persisted into the night, with five individuals requiring hospitalization for injuries sustained during the melee. Officials declared the uprising contained by early Sunday morning, but the breakout underscores long-standing pressures on Greece’s immigration infrastructure.

Separately, authorities recently intercepted hundreds of migrants near Crete and are working to relocate them to reception centers on the islands of Samos and Lesbos for registration and security checks. The migration ministry insists these relocations will not further strain the islands and is advancing plans to establish a permanent asylum facility on Crete. Meanwhile, European cooperation is underway to address deportation logistics, as Greece grapples with the ongoing challenges of managing migrant arrivals alongside contentious asylum processes.