Greece vows to step up migrants’ camp switch

Greece’s government said yesterday it would accelerate efforts to move thousands of refugees and migrants from islands in the Aegean Sea to the mainland following a deadly fire at the country’s largest camp on the island of Lesbos.

The decision, which signals a shift in policy, was announced after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis chaired a four-hour cabinet meeting on the day after the fire at the Moria camp left one asylum-seeker dead and 17 injured.

More than 12,000 people – more than four times the site’s capacity – are housed in the camp and just outside its perimeter after a spike in migrant arrivals over the summer.

Police said the blaze gutted eight container homes in the camp and triggered rioting by camp residents who were dispersed by riot police.