Tourists push migrant boat off beach on Greek island of Gavdos

Tourists on the southern Greek island of Gavdos were recorded forcing a small boat carrying a group of migrants away from a beach as it attempted to land, local media and video footage show.

The footage, taken on Saturday on Sarakiniko beach, shows bathers wading into the water and physically pushing the vessel back toward the sea. Witnesses told local outlets that those on the beach then instructed the passengers not to disembark there and directed them to the island port.

Greek authorities said the migrants had departed Libya. On Monday, Immigration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevri said officials were working to remove the group from Gavdos and that "within two or three days everyone will have left," according to statements reported by Greek media.

The incident comes as Greece confronts an uptick in arrivals along its southern islands, in particular flows from Libya to Crete and Gavdos. Earlier this year, Athens temporarily suspended the processing of asylum applications from migrants arriving from North Africa and said it had returned hundreds of people after the suspension. The government has also announced plans for further charter flights to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt to repatriate migrants.

In recent weeks, Greece's parliament passed legislation that toughens penalties for rejected asylum seekers and speeds up returns. The law allows for detention of undocumented migrants entering from third countries the European Union deems safe, for a minimum of 24 months, and establishes fines up to 10,000 euros for certain breaches. The measures are part of broader migration policy changes under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's conservative government, which has strengthened sea patrols and erected a fence along parts of the northern land border since taking office in 2019.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said the law risks penalizing people in need of international protection and has urged clear and fair procedures. UNHCR recommended that fast-track asylum procedures be used to promptly identify those with protection needs and separate them from those not entitled to asylum. Human rights groups meanwhile have accused Greek authorities of turning back asylum seekers at sea and on land. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency said earlier this year it was reviewing a number of potential human rights violations by Greece.

The episode on Gavdos is the latest in a string of widely shared incidents this summer involving migrants arriving on tourist beaches. In July, video from southern Crete showed dozens of migrants jumping from a small boat and wading ashore in front of sunbathers on Diskos beach. Such scenes have heightened tensions on islands that receive relatively few permanent residents but large numbers of visitors during the summer season.

Greece was on the frontline of the 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people crossed into Europe from the Middle East and Africa. Arrivals subsequently fell, but authorities say recent increases in crossings from Libya and other departure points have strained local reception capacity and prompted the government to pursue faster returns and stricter enforcement.

Local officials and coast guard personnel are handling the immediate situation on Gavdos, and authorities said they would provide updates as removals proceed. Humanitarian groups and rights monitors have called for any operations to respect international protection obligations and the rights of asylum seekers.