Athens - Greece's government Thursday announced the creation of immigrant reception centres for Athens, which opposition party leaders compared to concentration camps to accommodate the thousands of illegal immigrants currently living in the city.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said the government's measures included harsher penalties for human traffickers and reception centres to house the growing number of illegal immigrants in the Greek capital for up to a year.

Greece's Communist Country party (KKE), which came in third in recent EU elections, said that instead of "heralding the creation of concentration camps" the government ought to allow the thousands of immigrants to go to other EU nations and to legalize the rest.

Blocks away from the Greek capital's historic district, thousands of illegal immigrants have taken over abandoned buildings, church courtyards and parks, living amid piles of human waste and rubbish without running water or electricity.

Pavlopoulos said no country could tackle the problem on its own and said Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis would bring up the issue at the forthcoming EU summit, pushing for the signing of readmission agreements with third countries.

He also said the prime minister would ask the European Union to exert pressure on countries such as Turkey, that have already signed such agreements to commit themselves to it.

Finally, he said that the Greek government would move forward with long-delayed plans to have a mosque and a Muslim cemetery built near Athens.

Athens remains the only capital within Europe that does not have a proper mosque. Thousands of immigrants are forced to pray in makeshift mosques set up in basements and abandoned factories.

Sitting at the crossroads of three continents, Greece has become a main transit point for immigrants seeking entry into the European Union. The number of illegal immigrants arriving in the country has surged over the past year.(dpa)