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– Starting next Monday, the asylum process will only apply to those who are in the camp, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis told the Greek radio station Parapolitika on Monday.
Those who have not moved by that time will have their asylum application rejected and interviews canceled, writes Lesvos News.
The tent camp was established after the Moria camp caught fire last week. Thus, some 12,000 asylum seekers were left homeless.
The new tent camp so far has capacity for about 5,000 people, according to Mitarakis, who promises that the 12,000 will be able to move in within days.
Requires freedom
After the fires of the middle of last week, thousands of people, many of them families with young children and groups of young men, have been walking down the road looking for a place to settle.
Most have had to spread their blankets along the road, others have secured a place in empty buildings, while some have even slept on rooftops.
On Monday, asylum seekers staged new protests against their treatment on the Greek island. They demand more dignified living conditions and want to get away from Lesbos.
The authorities have hastily set up a new camp with white tents near the town of Panagiouda, but many refuse to go there for fear of being forgotten and left to their own devices, as they felt they were in the Moria camp.
Fear from both sides
The fires in the densely overcrowded Moria camp have created a new and even more difficult situation for both asylum seekers and locals. Fear of the future prevails on both sides.
Local Greeks hoped that the fire would cause all the residents of Moriah to be relocated to the mainland or other European countries.
– They were scared. 90 percent of the people here are against the new camp and we all want them to leave the island, says Savvas Afentoulis (70), who is sitting in a cafe in Panagiouda.
– Greece cannot handle the situation alone, the EU must find a solution, he adds.
It reminds us that this has not always been the case on Lesbos. During the 2015 refugee crisis, when hundreds of thousands arrived on the island, many residents demonstrated in solidarity. Several of them were also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, as a symbol of the hospitality of the island population.
– But then when Moria was filled with people, they started stealing our sheep and doing harm, says Afentoulis as an explanation of why attitudes have changed.
Fear of violence
Not far away are four young Somalis hoping to enter the new camp and eventually travel to France or Germany. They are also scared.
– If we go there, they will kill us, says 18-year-old Ahmed, pointing to the road where thousands of people sleep in the open.
– If we go there, they will kill us, he says again, but this time he points to the town while making a gesture with his hand as if they were cutting his neck.
The youth are not sure if they will be allowed into the new camp, where families take priority.
While being interviewed, three people enter the camp, including a pregnant woman. On Sunday night, 500 asylum seekers moved here, and in a few days it is expected to house all of those left homeless.
Due to the corona pandemic, residents will not be able to come and go.
According to the Greek Minister of Immigration, some 200 asylum seekers are infected with the coronavirus. There are far more than the 37 who had been diagnosed with the infection before the Moria camp caught fire last Wednesday.
– disaster
In recent years, conflicts between asylum seekers and local Greeks have become more and more frequent.
– This situation is a disaster for the locals, says Vassilis Kiosia. He himself is an immigrant from Albania and says he understands that asylum seekers are suffering.
– But there is no work, says the 35-year-old.
The mayor of Mytilini, Stratis Kytelis, emphasizes that the Athens government is fully aware that the locals do not want a new camp on the island.
As long as the asylum seekers stay, the tension and fear will continue, he believes.
