Moria refugee camp: “purgatory” goes up in flames
It was known as Europe’s “camp of shame”, home to thousands of refugees and migrants forced to live in squalor. Now, the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos has been utterly destroyed. Fanned by strong winds, a huge blaze swept through its thousands of makeshift huts and tents and, by dawn on 9 September, Europe’s largest refugee camp had ceased to exist. It shan’t be mourned, said Alexia Kefalas in Le Figaro (Paris). Notorious for its cramped conditions – it was meant to hold 3,000 refugees but was actually home to some 13,000 – it was seen as a “purgatory” where people lacked beds, electricity and running water as they awaited transfer elsewhere. Kidnapping, prostitution, rape and fighting were rife, as were suicide attempts among residents – thousands of whom are now being forced to sleep in fields, roads and cemeteries nearby.
The “mass misery” in the camp had been compounded recently by an outbreak of Covid-19, said Panos Kosmas in Efimerida ton Syntakton (Athens). In the days before the fire, it had been placed on lockdown after 35 people tested positive for the virus. The move sparked angry protests among residents – some of whom lit fires which may have led to the camp’s destruction – and fuelled unease among Greek islanders. Their worries are understandable, said Panos Amyras in Eleftheros Typos (Athens). Greece is now “a country of transit for millions of migrants”, with the Aegean islands taking the strain for “the whole of Europe”. Moria’s destruction must herald a tougher stance, with the flow of migrants by sea further restricted, and asylum applications processed faster to help reduce the numbers living in “inhumane” conditions in camps. It’s wrong to view them as a problem, said Lefteris Charalambopoulos in To Vima (Athens). They’re desperate and have much to offer: we Greeks should welcome them as we seek to “rebuild” our country after years of economic turmoil.
The hell of Moria was “made in Brussels”, said Georg Schwarte in Tagesschau (Hamburg). EU leaders are so desperate to protect Europe’s borders that they have happily turned a blind eye to Moria’s appalling conditions. The camp’s squalor was no accident, said Daniel Howden on Politico (Brussels): “it was a spectacle intended to deter future asylum seekers”. But the fire is unlikely to force a rethink. The Greek government has been pushing for camps to be rebuilt as “closed” detention centres, and looks likely to get its way. Moria will rise again and, this time, it will “not just look like a prison camp – it will be one”.