Fire at Greek refugee centre
A FIRE broke out at a refugee centre on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece’s firefighting service said yesterday, causing considerable damage to a warehouse, but no injuries.
It was the second fire at an installation built for migrants, after a reception centre was burned down by unknown perpetrators last Monday.
The warehouse, which contained furniture and electrical appliances, was completely destroyed, a firefighting spokesperson said on condition of anonymity, because an investigation into the fire is ongoing.
The blaze at the refugee centre came amid a tense stand-off between Turkey and the EU over who is responsible for the millions of migrants and refugees on Turkish territory and the thousands who have massed recently at the Greek border.
Thousands of migrants headed for Turkey’s land border with EU member Greece after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government announced earlier this month that it would no longer prevent migrants and refugees from crossing over into EU countries. Greece has deployed riot police and border guards to repel people trying to enter the country and the Greek border area has since seen violent confrontations between them and the migrants. On Saturday, youths threw rocks at Greek police and tried to break down a border fence.
In Istanbul yesterday, Erdogan called on Greece to open its borders.
“These people won’t stay (in your country), they will move to other European countries,” Erdogan said.
“Why don’t you open your gates too, let them go to other countries, and rid yourself of this burden?”
In a speech marking International Women’s Day yesterday, Erdogan asserted that women and children were bearing the brunt of the crisis. “Is the West’s heart breaking over all of this? No. Is it raising its voice? No.”
Meanwhile, Cyprus announced it would send security forces to the Greek-Turkish land border to help protect it. Greek government spokesperson Kyriakos Kousios said that the decision to send the force was announced by Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a telephone conversation the two had yesterday.
“The president’s proposal was gratefully accepted by Greece’s prime minister, and therefore a force from Cyprus’s security forces will travel to Greece immediately to defend and guard Greece’s, and Europe’s, borders.”
The Greek government released a video purporting to show a Turkish armoured vehicle trying to pull down part of border fence with a rope. It claimed the vehicle was partly purchased with EU border funds. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the video. There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.