Covid 19 closure: fire ravages Greece’s largest refugee camp

A large night fire swept through the largest refugee camp in Greece, which had been put under the Covid-19 blockade, leaving more than 12,000 migrants in an emergency situation in need of refuge on the island of Lesbos.

In dramatic night scenes, migrants in the crowded Moria refugee camp, which was originally intended to house about 2,000 people, fled fires that broke out at multiple points and destroyed much of the surrounding countryside and olive groves. Protests also broke out involving migrants, riot police and firefighters. There were no reports of injuries.

“It has been a very difficult night,” said government spokesman Stelios Petsas, adding that a state of emergency was being declared on the island. He said all possible causes were being examined, including that of the arson.

Petsas said that those who lived in Moria would not be allowed to leave the island to prevent the possible spread of the coronavirus. The camp had been closed after a Somali man was found to be infected with the virus.

A large test drive was ordered at the camp, and 35 people who tested positive were quarantined in a separate facility that was not affected by the fire, authorities said.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called an emergency ministerial meeting on Wednesday morning to examine the situation in Moria and decide on the measures to be taken. The meeting was attended by the Commander of the Greek Intelligence Service, the Chief of Civil Protection and the Chief of Defense General Staff.

Speaking after the meeting, Petsas said the interior and migration ministers, as well as the head of the public health organization, will head to Lesbos to review the situation on the ground on Wednesday.

European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, head of migration affairs, tweeted that she had been in contact with Mitsotakis and “assured him that the European Commission is ready to help Greece immediately at all levels at this difficult time.”

Internal Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said she had “already agreed to fund the immediate transfer and accommodation on the mainland of the remaining 400 unaccompanied children and adolescents” who had been living in the camp.

“Safety and shelter for all people in Moria is the priority,” Johansson tweeted.

Some 12,500 people lived in and around Moria camp, where additional restrictions were imposed over the past week after a Somali man who had returned to the camp after being granted refugee status tested positive for the coronavirus.

The fires broke out overnight, island police and firefighters told The Associated Press, adding that the cause of the fires, as well as the full extent of the damage, was unclear. They did not confirm local reports that the fires had been deliberately set in protest at the closure measures, but said that firefighters had “met resistance” from some residents of the camp.

Regional fire chief Konstantinos Theofilopoulos told ERT state television that the fire broke out in more than three locations in rapid succession and that firefighters were hampered by protests from residents not to fight the flames.

By Wednesday morning, the main fire was out, but the fire marshal said some containers still had small smoldering fires inside.

Before dawn, riot police installed cordons along a road near the camp to restrict migrant movements.

Lesbos was Europe’s busiest crossing point in 2015-16 for illegal migration during a massive westward movement of refugees, many of whom fled the war in Syria and Iraq and traveled through Turkey. After that wave of migration, Greece set up camps on Lesbos and four other islands, helped with funds from the European Union, and more recently also established a network of camps on the mainland.

Lesbos firefighters were also fighting two other wildfires in the west of the island on Wednesday.

-AP