According to a recent report from Reuters, 5 migrants/asylum seekers were arrested by Greek police following a fire that obliterated the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos island. The migrants are accused of deliberately setting the camp on fire, after thousands of them refused to move to a new facility.
The asylum seekers also demanded to leave Lesbos island. Currently, the island is harboring more than 12,000 refugees/asylum seekers, most of them from Afghanistan, Syria and Africa. After the arson incident, the asylum seekers were left without proper sanitation, not to mention shelter and/or easy access to food and water.
Greek authorities believe that the fire was set up deliberately in the aftermath of quarantine measures being imposed in the camp after COVID cases were reported on site. Even if the fire was intentional and lit by the Moria camp occupants, the arson has put the migrant issue back on the EU agenda.
In the aftermath of the incident, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked the EU for more help, as Greece is struggling to resolve the immigrant crisis at its borders, and seeks tangible solidarity from its European partners.
European Council President Charles Michel has said after visiting Lesbos that:
“This is difficult, a very complex situation, but on behalf of the European Union, I would want to say that I refuse to paper over this migration challenge. This is a common European challenge”
Angela Merkel promised to take in 1500 people affected by the fire, but a comprehensive/wider solution to the crisis remains elusive. A new reception facility will be built with EU support on Lesbos, and Misotakis promised that the squalid and overcrowded Moria camp is a thing of the past.
Photo Credit: Reuters