Thousands of Greek islanders protest against migrant camps
GREECE: Thousands of residents on Greek islands hosting large migrant camps kicked off a day of protests yesterday, demanding the immediate removal of asylum seekers.
The islanders of Lesbos, Samos and Chios staged a general strike, shutting down shops and public services and rallying in central squares, many waving Greek flags. Packing the waterfront of Lesbos harbor, the protesters chanted: “Our islands are not prisons. Shut down all the camps now.” “Soon we will be a minority on our own island,” said Vassiliki Ververi, a Lesbos resident. “It’s Greece and the islands that are paying the price of migration,” she told AFP.
Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi, who was appointed to the post last week, said local anger was “justified”. “The burden borne by the islanders is disproportionate,” Mitarachi, who represents the island of Chios in parliament, said in a statement.
The largest camp of Moria on Lesbos island, with a capacity for 2,840 people, hosts more than 19,000 asylum seekers. Samos and Chios each have 7,500 and around 5,000 asylum seekers in camps respectively built to handle 650 and 1,000 persons. Dozens more arrive daily from neighboring Turkey. Asylum seekers “should be shared out across Greece,” 72year-old Lesbos pensioner Efstratios Peppas told AFP.
“And Europe must assume its responsibilities. It too must take migrants,” he said. “You can’t walk alone outside after dark, people get stabbed,” Peppas said. Rights groups and medical charities have repeatedly criticized the living conditions at the camps. The government announced plans in November to build larger camps on Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros, which currently host a total of nearly 42,000 migrants and refugees and where outbreaks of violence are frequent.
Two young asylum seekers have been fatally stabbed in brawls at the Moria camp this month. An 18-year-old Afghan girl was also seriously injured in a knife attack this week and remains in hospital.
And three asylum seekers in Greek custody have committed suicide in recent weeks. “We demand the immediate shutdown of Moria,” read a banner carried in the Lesbos demonstration. Greece’s new conservative government, which has announced tougher asylum laws and hired additional border guards, vows to expel all asylum seekers who are not entitled to protection.