Arrests after fire in Vathy refugee camp

rehe fire not far from the Vathy refugee camp on the Greek island of Samos is halfway under control. This was reported by the island’s online portal “Samos Today” on Tuesday night. The camp is not in danger, Mayor Giorgos Stantzos told radio station Thema 104.6.

There were also the first arrests: the police arrested several men on suspicion of arson. It was not clear at first who the men were and what motives they were pursuing.

The fire broke out Tuesday night over the refugee camp and the wind carried it up the mountain away from the camp. Fortunately, the surrounding fields did not provide much food for the llamas, they said.

4600 in a warehouse for 650

According to the Greek Migration Ministry, around 4,600 migrants live in the Vathy refugee camp on Samos, but the camp only has space for about 650 people.

Just a few days ago, the Moria refugee camp on the nearby island of Lesbos was almost completely destroyed in a major fire. Around 12,000 migrants were left homeless. According to the Greek government, the fires were started by migrants to force people to leave the fields and the island.

Since then, Greek politicians have warned against the “Moria tactic”, according to which fires could also start in other refugee camps on the islands of Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos, especially if the people of Lesbos are now taken away. to the continent or to the center and north of Europe. would do. In view of the burning camp, the migrants in Lesbos are demanding that they be allowed to leave the island immediately. However, most of them have yet to complete their asylum applications. The Greek government insists that migrants must go through the normal asylum process.

In the Vathy refugee camp in Samos, the overcrowding situation is seen as dramatic, even worse than in the burned-down Moria. Two people tested positive for the corona virus at the Vathy camp on Tuesday. After the first corona cases in Moria, the situation escalated on Lesbos last week.