9,000 migrants move into new facility
LESBOS: Thousands of asylum-seekers have moved into a new temporary facility on the Greek island of Lesbos, government officials said on Saturday, 10 days ater a fire destroyed the Moria camp.
The fire that broke out in Moria on Sept.9 let over 12,000 people, most of them refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and various African countries, without shelter, proper sanitation or access to food and water.
No one was hurt in the blaze.
About 9,000 people had been resetled in the new tent camp, set up by authorities at Kara Tepe near the port of Mytilene, by Saturday morning.
A few hundred had also moved into a community centre managed by a non-governmental organisation.
Those entering the camp were being registered and tested for COVID-19.
At least 214 were placed in quarantine ater positive tests.
Traffic was returning to normal on the roads, where thousands of migrants had camped for days ater the fire, and stores in the area started reopening.
Greek police launched an operation on Thursday to speed up the resetlement of migrants.
Many had been reluctant to enter the temporary camp as they had hoped to leave Lesbos ater the fire and reach other European countries.
Authorities believe the fire that guted the notorious for its living conditions Moria camp was started by migrants following a dispute over COVID-19 quarantine measures at the facility ater dozens of asylum-seekers tested positive.
Six people have been arrested and charged with arson.
Meanwhile, the EU home affairs commissioner, who is to unveil a much-awaited asylum reform next week, urged that a system of “mandatory” solidarity on migration be agreed between member states.
“It has to be mandatory, all member states have to help when there is a situation when a member state is under pressure, when there is a lot of people that need protection,” Ylva Johansson told reporters.
“But we also need to take into account the kind of help” needed, she noted, as some of the 27 EU nations remain hostile to accepting asylum seekers.
In recent years, atempts to relocate asylum seekers within the EU have been rejected by the so-called Visegrad group — Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.