Greek police last week oversaw the evacuation of the last few migrants from old Athens appeals court in the centre of Athens.
The building was cleared and cleaned following the removal of the migrants.
A series of similar raids on derelict buildings in which illegal migrants squat in squalid conditions were announced by the Alternate Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis as reports emerged of government plans to create five new reception centres for migrants nationwide.
Markoyiannakis said the summer would see police entering dozens more vacant buildings in Athens where hundreds of illegal migrants are living in squalid conditions, some reverting to drug dealing to eke out a living.
He said police would use “effective but safe” tactics to remove them.
The Greek Interior Ministry is reported to be planning the creation of five new centers to accommodate thousands of illegal immigrants.
The centres are slated for construction in Rio, in the Peloponnese; in Evros, near the Turkish border; in Ritsona on Evia; in Keramoti near Kavala and in Aspropyrgos, in northwestern Attica.
Though the camps are expected to spark vehement protests by locals, the ministry is reportedly intent on pushing through the projects, sorely needed following the evacuation of some 1,500 Afghans from a makeshift settlement in the western port of Patra and about 600 immigrants from the Socratous Street squat.
Legislation outlining the operation of these camps is expected to be submitted in Parliament over the next few days.
But residents and local authority officials are already up in arms, sources say. “There is going to be conflict,” said the mayor of Keramoti, Grigoris Triantafyllidis.
Municipal authorities have drafted petitions, opposing the creation of “migrant concentration camps” in their areas.
Meanwhile, a joint press conference by 13 migrant rights groups condemned the government for “compromising the rights of migrants and refugees.”