Islamic invasion of Europe update (October 12, 2015)

1,624 Muslim migrants entered Greece from Turkey over the past 3 days.

Greek authorities say they have rescued a total 1,624 refugees and economic migrants who entered the country in dozens of frail boats from neighboring Turkey over the past three days.

The coastguard said Monday that the migrants were picked up at sea in 47 incidents near Greece's eastern Aegean islands of Lesbos, Kos, Chios, Samos, Leros, Agathonissi and Farmakonissi.

Greece is the main entry point to the European Union for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. The vast majority pay criminal gangs to smuggle them to the eastern islands.

Britain is urged to take in large numbers of Muslim migrants from the Middle East

Hundreds of lawyers, retired judges and academics are urging Britain's government to take in more Syrian refugees, saying the offer of 20,000 is "too low, too slow and too narrow."

The letter published Monday says the U.K.'s offer is "deeply inadequate," noting that in Lebanon — a country of 5 million — there are 1.2 million registered Syrian refugees.

The lawyers say that even though the refugees have a right to legal protection, they are being driven "into the hands of people-smugglers.'"

The lawyers, many of whom have a human rights background, say many members of the European Union make it impossible for people to seek asylum via normal means of travel and that the entire system is dysfunctional.

UN refugee agency wants Europe, and not Muslim countries, to take in huge numbers of Muslim migrants

The United Nations' top official for refugees says European Union plans to take in about 160,000 migrants are insufficient, and is urging Europe to provide asylum-seekers with legal immigration options.

Antonio Guterres said the relocation program is a starting point but not enough. Speaking in Athens, he called for the EU to accept more refugees, and expand beyond Syrians, Iraqis and Eritreans.

More than 500,000 refugees or economic migrants have entered Europe this year, four-fifths of whom paid to be smuggled by sea to Greece from Turkey.

Iraqi asylum seekers protest against Finland's deportation move

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Iraqi asylum seekers rallied in central Helsinki and signed a petition on Monday against Finland's plans to negotiate a deal with Baghdad that could lead to their deportation, arguing that their country should not be considered safe.

Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from conflict- and poverty-stricken parts of the Middle East, Asia and Africa have streamed into Europe this year, with even far-northern Finland becoming the final stop for more than 21,000, mostly from Iraq.

Encouraged by relatively broad Finnish asylum criteria and an existing Iraqi community in the Nordic country, they have taken a long circuitous journey up through central Europe and Sweden to reach Finland's border near the Arctic Circle.

The government has responded by suspending decision-making on asylum claims by Iraqis and Somalis, saying it might tighten guidelines for granting people asylum after reassessing the security situation in both countries.

Helsinki has also begun to negotiate an accord with Iraq on deportations of asylum seekers judged not to have had a genuine fear for their safety or of persecution, but rather to have come more as economic migrants to better their living standards.

Anger as hundreds of Muslim migrants sent to tiny Dutch village of 130

ORANJE, Netherlands (AP) — In this tiny Dutch village, Jan Voortman's garden center has added some new products to its lineup of plants, seeds and wooden clogs: falafel, couscous and water pipes.

The enterprising store owner is capitalizing on the newest residents of rural Oranje, until recently population 130: Hundreds of asylum seekers from as far away as Syria, Sudan and Eritrea who are being housed in a disused vacation camp. But the resolutely cheerful Voortman sees his fellow townspeople adopting a starkly different attitude.

Villagers who a year ago grudgingly accepted the arrival of 700 migrants reacted furiously last week when the government announced it was sending up to 700 more, turning Oranje into the latest flashpoint in an increasingly polarized debate about how this densely populated nation of 17 million can accommodate thousands of migrants pouring into the country.

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Oranje was chosen because of its 1,400-bed vacation village, but villagers saw the decision as a betrayal by the central government based more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) away in The Hague, which after sending 700 people last year had pledged not to send any more.

"It was going well. Everybody was satisfied," Voortman said. When junior Justice Minister Klaas Dijkhoff broke the news to villagers on Tuesday that hundreds more could be on their way, he said, "everybody flipped."

One woman stood in front of Dijkhoff's car as he tried to leave the meeting. When she was pulled, screaming, to the side of the road, she fell and injured her arm. A man kicked the car as it drove away.

"I've had better evenings," Dijkhoff told reporters at the Dutch Parliament the following day. "But I understand that people were shocked."

Two days after the confrontation, the only trace of anger left in the cluster of houses lining the banks of the local canal was the village sign: The name Oranje had been covered in black spray paint and "Syria" scrawled underneath. It was not clear when the sign was defaced.

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