PATRAS, Greece, July 13 (UPI) -- When Greek police bulldozed a makeshift migrant camp in the western port city of Patras Sunday, they highlighted one of the lesser known consequences of the conflict in Afghanistan. Most of the camp dwellers were Afghans. Many had paid several thousand dollars to people smugglers to get there.

The camp had been there for 13 years. Recently it housed as many as 1,800 refugees waiting to be smuggled by boat to Italy. Earlier arrests had reduced the number to about 100 when the police struck. They flattened plastic and cardboard shelters, sparing only a temporary mosque and a tent for volunteer medical services.


Last year Greece arrested more than 146,000 illegal immigrants and 2,000 people smugglers. Last month, in the wake of the success of the right-wing Laos Party in EU parliamentary elections, the government passed a new, tougher immigration law. Smugglers now face five years in prison and illegal immigrants can be detained for six months before deportation. New "reception" centers will be set up to house the illegal immigrants currently scattered around Athens.

Illegal immigration has fuelled a popular backlash in many EU countries, boosting support for right-wing parties such as the British National Party.

It has also heightened tensions between Greece and Turkey, adding to both countries' list of mutual grievances. Most refugees, coming from Afghanistan and also Iraq, transit Turkey on their way to the EU via Greece. When detained they are shipped back to Turkey.

Athens and Brussels have criticized Turkey for not doing more to control illegal immigration. Turkey has responded that it lacks the resources to do more and is suffering for what is essentially an EU problem. EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot has promised Turkey financial aid to address the problem but has not yet specified the amount or when it will be delivered.

Most of the immigrants arriving illegally in Greece do not plan to stay there. Most had hoped to get to Italy, with France and Britain being favored onward destinations. With the destruction of the Patras camp and tighter security against people-smuggling at the port there, more are now likely to head north for the land border with Bulgaria or Macedonia.

The only hope the refugees have to live legally in the EU is to apply and be accepted for political asylum. However, EU rules require that the application be made in the first safe port of entry. Once an immigrant has been fingerprinted in Greece he would be sent back there if he made an asylum request in another EU country.

Currently Britain is one of the most favored destinations. Smugglers tell refugees that the British welfare system will find them work and support them in the meantime. As a result the northern French port town of Calais has become a magnet for refugees hoping to hide in a truck or even the trunk of a car to slip across the Channel to Britain.

Some 1,500 currently live in shanty camps around Calais much like the one at Patras. They wash their clothes and bathe in the sea, use their surroundings for toilets and eat at local soup kitchens. Knife fights between different ethnic groups are common.