October 08, 2016 - 6:58 AM
PIERREFEU, France - The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local):
3:50 p.m.
Greece's coast guard says a boat carrying 131 migrants was found rudderless in southwestern Greece.
The boat was pulled into the port of Methoni and all passengers are reportedly safe.
A coast guard spokesman, speaking Saturday on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the migrants have been taken to a sports facility to be registered and questioned. He said he had no information about their nationalities or the boat's point of origin.
State news agency ANA-MPA reports some passengers had called the European Union emergency number hours before the boat was found.
More than a million refugees and migrants have come into Greece so far this year heading to other European nations, and some 60,000 have become stuck there as borders close around Europe.
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1 p.m.
French villagers are protesting the arrival of migrants who are being dispersed around the country as the government shuts down the slum-like camp in Calais that has become a flashpoint in Europe's migrant crisis.
Three competing rallies are being held Saturday in Pierrefeu in southeast France. The mayor led several hundred people protesting a government proposal to house migrants in an abandoned wing of a psychiatric hospital while they apply for asylum or study other options. Left-wing activists held their own, smaller rally to welcome the migrants.
Gendarmes stood watch but the morning gatherings were peaceful. The far-right National Front plans its own anti-migrant protest later in the day.
The National Front is urging mayors to resist the Calais relocation plan and is organizing or taking part in protests across the country this month. Resistance to immigration is central to the campaign platform of National Front leader Marine Le Pen in her bid for the French presidency next year.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016