Some 48 out of a total of 109 people were released on Friday after being detained while police vacated a partially constructed building that was being used as an informal refugee camp near Yiannitsa, west of Thessaloniki.
The detained refugees were taken to a local police station for identification purposes. Police said 61 of those detained did not have a residence permit while the remaining 48 were released.
A prosecutor had ordered the building’s evacuation after neighbors filed complaints.
“The situation in the area is tragic and the neighbors are justified in their complaints,” a member of the local municipal council, Lazaros Zachariadis, said, adding that the building, which was housing more than 100 people, was not connected to supply networks.