[ad_1]
After the devastating fire in the Moria refugee camp a week ago, around 11,000 refugees remain homeless on Lesbos.
Although the Greek authorities, with the support of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), have set up a temporary tent camp at a former shooting range, the voluntary relocation of people is progressing slowly. Only around 1,200 refugees have moved into their accommodation.
On Thursday morning a large-scale police operation was underway. According to observers, the security forces are now forcing people into the camp. Under the blazing sun, people lined up in front of the new camp, as reported by an AFP reporter. So far, around 1,000 refugees have been relocated to the new camp, Civil Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said.
According to the Migration Ministry, there are already 2,800 migrants in the new camp, including those who have voluntarily moved there in recent days. However, many refugees refuse to go to the camp because they fear being trapped there again for months.
70 female officers in white protective suits who were transferred from Athens participated in the action, reports the “Bild”. They served to protect public health, their task being to be the first to graciously encourage women and children to leave the city via the Lesbos coastal road and to the newly built Kara Tepe refugee camp. The situation is calm, so far people have followed the instructions, say witnesses from the daily “Bild”.
Refugees fear being trapped
Many refugees at the site reported their fear of the new camp. They fear being locked up there. Authorities also said that some of the migrants are reluctant to move to the new camp. They hope to get off the island. The federal government wants to accept 1,500 refugees recognized by Greece as in need of protection.
Aid organizations are denied access to refugees. The aid organization Doctors Without Borders reported that its employees were denied access to migrants overnight. “A police operation is underway to bring refugees to the new camp. But that should not prevent medical assistance,” the organization criticized on Twitter. In the morning the emergency clinic that the organization installed in the area was allowed to reopen.
Greek authorities and the UN have been building a new camp since Saturday, where they say asylum procedures for migrants will resume. 1000 tents were erected on the site, each with space for eight to ten people. Medical supply stations will be added and two quarantine zones are planned.
Many Lesbos residents are also resisting the new camp and demanding that the refugees be housed elsewhere after the catastrophic conditions in the Moria camp for years. Civil Protection Minister Chrysochoidis says he hopes the refugees will be able to leave the island by Easter at the latest..
Criticisms of the EU Parliament
The EU Parliament has harshly criticized the situation of refugees on Lesbos. On Thursday MEPs demanded that member states finally agree on a long-term solution.
EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson emphasized that the situation in Moria should not be repeated. Doctors, helpers and migrants on Lesbos fear exactly that. “People’s fears regarding the new camp are absolutely justified,” Greek lawyer Elli Kriona told a news conference.
“No more Morias!” Demanded the EU Home Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, this is one of the objectives of the new migration and asylum policy, for which the EU Commission will present a new proposal on Wednesday. “We need a new start with migration. And this is the right time ”. Because: “Moria is not normal, but migration is normal.”
MEPs called for more long-term help from Greece. Not only could there be “ad hoc solidarity” after the Moria fire, said Roberta Metsola of the Christian Democratic EPP group. (with AFP)
