Thousands flee blaze at camp
FIRE has swept through Greece’s largest refugee camp, which had been placed under Covid-19 lockdown, leaving more than 12,000 migrants in emergency need of shelter on the island of Lesbos.
In dramatic scenes overnight, the migrants at Moria refugee camp fled fires that broke out at multiple points and gutted much of the camp and surrounding hillside olive groves.
Protests also broke out involving migrants, riot police and firefighters.
“It has been a very difficult night,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said, adding that a state of emergency would be declared.
Some 12,500 people were living at the Moria camp and the surrounding area, where additional restrictions have been imposed over the past week after a Somali resident tested positive for coronavirus.
There were no reports of injuries. The fires broke out overnight, police and fire officials on the island told the Associated Press, adding that the cause of the blazes remained unclear.
They did not confirm local reports that the fires had been set deliberately in protest at the lockdown but said firefighters had “met resistance” from some camp residents.w