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PIREAUS, Greece, April 3 (UPI) -- Tensions are high in Greece as military personnel there are preparing to roundup and deport roughly 750 Syrian refugees. A newly negotiated European Union deal will see some 250 migrants returned from the Greek island of Lesbos to the Turkish port of Dikili on Monday. Another 500 migrants will be shipped back to Turkey on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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"We are expecting violence. People in despair tend to be violent," Giorgos Kyritsis, the country's migration spokesperson, told the Observer.
The deal between the EU and Turkey will see to the return of all migrants who arrived and were processed in Greece after March 20, an estimated 5,600. In return, the EU will take-in 72,000 Syrian refugees from Turkey, as well as provide Turkey with $6.8 billion in aid.
Non-Syrian migrants returned to Turkey will be taken to settlements before being deported back to their original countries.
A Syrian middleman who has arranged the travel of migrants from Turkey to Greece told The Wall Street Journal he has not done any deals in more than one-and-a-half months. Smugglers in operating in the Turkish city of Izmir have mostly gone underground.
"People who crossed to Lesbos are calling me now, upset, asking questions and telling they don't want to return. I expect some trouble," the middleman said. "People are going crazy -- they have spent their life savings on the trip."
With migrants uncertain about their future, anxiety continues to rise among the impromptu settlements dotting Greece's coast. Violence recently broke out between rival migrant groups in a settlement in the Greek port of Pireaus.
Over the weekend, groups of migrants loudly protested the impending deportations. More protests are expected Monday.
"The whole philosophy of the deal is to deter human trafficking [into Europe] from the Turkish coast, but it is going to be difficult and we are trying to use a soft approach.," Kyritsis said. "These are people have fled war. They are not criminals."
