Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/682623
TIM DIACONO A family of six Syrian refugees will arrive in Malta tomorrow. MaltaToday is informed that the family will initially be housed at the Hal Far reception centre be- fore being sent to the Church-run Good Shepherd home for refugees in Balzan. The arrival of the family will mean that 32 refugees would have been relocated to Malta since EU countries last year agreed to relo- cate 160,000 people from Italy and Greece by 2017 – Malta is accept- ing 131 asylum seekers under the agreement. However, the Financial Times has revealed that the deal has been challenged by asylum seekers who are refusing to be relocated to poorer EU member states, such as Bulgaria and Romania. Indeed, Greek officials say that 191 of the 1,324 people processed for reloca- tion have dropped out or disap- peared. Bulgaria last week agreed to accept 47 asylum seekers from Greece. However, when they were informed of their destination, 36 dropped out of the scheme and seven absconded from the coun- try, leaving only four people to be relocated to Bulgaria. Similarly, 32 of the 67 asylum seekers destined to be relocated from Greece to Romania dropped out or disappeared, while eight of the 27 people set for Estonia ab- sconded. Fotini Rantsiou, a former UN staffer, blamed the high relocation dropout rate on asylum seekers' fears that they would be sent to a country far from their family and friends. "As the process drags on, some people get discouraged," he said. "They feel they won't get to where their relatives are, so they drop out altogether." European migration commis- sioner Dimitris Avramopolous warned on Friday that the reloca- tion scheme was progressing too slowly. "So far, only 1,581 persons in need of international protection have been relocated from Greece and Italy," he said. "Tens of thou- sands of people continue to re- main stranded in Greece and the situation on the ground will not improve in the coming months." maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 MAY 2016 News Syrian refugee family to arrive in Malta tomorrow Family of six Syrian refugees to be housed at Hal Far reception centre before being sent to Balzan refugee home Over 190,000 asylum seekers have reached Europe by sea this year Paceville bouncers in close shave with Samurai sword- wielding men MATTHEW AGIUS POLICE are investigating reports that a group of men yesterday tried to settle an argument in Paceville using Samurai swords. Bystanders called the police in the morning when four men, had an argument with some nightclub bouncers, left and then returned to have the last word – allegedly armed with the legendarily sharp blades. The scuffle took place in St George's Street in Paceville at around 7am. Involved were four men and an unspecified number of bouncers. Having been sent on their way by the security staff, the men returned half an hour later, bearing what onlook- ers told police were Samurai swords. However, the four men had fled by the time police arrived on the scene. No injuries were reported. No indication as to the na- tionality of the men has been released so far.