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Despair spreads among the refugees in Moria. The Greek government is trying to find refuge. Residents of the island do not want to see a new camp. And it’s still unclear where the journey is heading.
By Thomas Bormann, ARD-Studio Athens, currently. Lesbos
It was the fourth night in a row for thousands of refugees outdoors. Families with young children lie down on blankets under the olive trees. Others cannot turn a blind eye to hunger. Because emergency aid with drinking water and something to eat does not reach all the refugees.
It was even better in the miserable field of Moria, says Omid, a 30-year-old family man from Afghanistan: “You had to queue to eat, that was bad, it was completely overcrowded. But there was something to eat.”
“And now: nowhere is there a central point where food is distributed. When a food truck stops, people rush there. It’s hard for everyone to get something to eat here.”
The Greek government builds a makeshift camp
The Greek authorities promise to have better control of the aid soon. Two kilometers from the burning camp of Moria, the government is pitching tents at a former military shooting range. The local Internet portal “Sto Nisi” reports that there will soon be 500 tents for six people each. Then there would be space for 3,000 refugees, but there are 12,000 waiting outside for help.
The authorities have to fly the tarp to the construction site of the new camp by helicopter, because they would not pass through the road. Wherever the authorities want to take in refugees, locals get in the way and put up barricades. “We will no longer tolerate camps on our island,” says a man with anger in his voice at a checkpoint with a truck that is positioned across the street. . Above all, he fears that refugees will spread the corona virus.
Fear of the spread of the coronavirus
Of the 35 refugees who tested positive for Corona earlier this week, most of them are still in hiding, they have mixed with the other refugees and possibly infected some of them. Especially because of this corona risk, Lesbos residents do not want new camps on their doorstep.
Islanders and refugees themselves find it disappointing that EU countries want to host just 400 of the total 12,600 refugees on Lesbos. Everyone expected more. After all, more than a hundred cities in Germany alone volunteered to host refugees. But Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer still rejects such solo efforts by Germany. Instead, he said yesterday that 100 to 150 underage refugees could arrive in Germany.
Perseverance continues
The co-chair of the Greens parliamentary group, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, shakes her head. She is currently on Lesbos and emphasizes that there are 4,000 children among the homeless refugees there:
“These 4,000 children now have to be helped. And that’s why I don’t even think it’s a gesture, these 150, but for me at least that’s something in what I say: as a German, I am ashamed that it is not very clear: that The provision there is also used. ”
No, refugee families on Lesbos cannot expect to be flown to Germany or other EU countries at the moment. They must continue to resist on Lesbos, initially in the open air.
