The temporary facility at Kara Tepe, near the island's port of Mytilene, can take up to 5,000 people. Greek officials say some of the migrants are unwilling to move to the new camp as they hope to leave the island.
Image: Elias Marcou/Reuters
Advertisement
Greek police on Thursday began moving hundreds of migrants stranded on the island of Lesbos to a new temporary camp. It comes more than a week after a fire razed Moria, Greece's biggest refugee camp, to the ground.
The operation to move the refugees to a makeshift accommodation at Kara Tepe involved 170 officers. Authorities said it was necessary to protect public health.
"In terms of hygiene, you are a time bomb if you stay on the street," Panagiotis Arkoumaneas, head of the Greek Health Authority (EODY), told Greek radio station Skai.
As of Thursday, 35 migrants from the Moria camp have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and had been placed in isolation, according to the migration ministry.
The fire at Moria last week left more than 12,000 people, mostly from Afghanistan, Syria and various African countries, without shelter, proper sanitation or access to food and water.
Greek authorities said the fire was started by migrants. Security forces on Tuesday arrested six young Afghan migrants on suspicion of arson.
Many of the 11,000 asylum seekers who fled the camp have been sleeping rough on Lesbos.
A large number of migrants have refused to enter the new facility, demanding asylum to other EU countries or better living conditions.
From Lesbos, Journalist Franziska Grillmeier told DW "their spirits are really broken, lots of people didn't have any running water or sufficient food supplies in the last eight days...these last days of starvation and also dehydration are making people really go quietly into the camp now."
But Grillmeier told DW that the migrants were reluctant to enter the camp because "they think [it] is a prison at this point."
Authorities were able to move only 1,200 refugees to the new camp early on Wednesday, but by late evening large groups of migrants stared streaming in with their belongings.
Greek officials said they would continue "for some more days in good faith and communication" to convince the migrants to enter the new camp, saying their transfer would be completed within a few days.
shs/rt (Reuters, AFP, dpa)
End of Moria camp highlights refugee trauma
When Europe's largest refugee camp burned down, asylum-seekers on Lesbos, Greece, were forced to sleep on the streets, without access to food or water. Marianna Karakoulaki documented three days of their makeshift life.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
Heavy burden
Moria, the EU's largest refugee camp, held more than 12,000 people. After it burned down, most refugees moved to the streets just outside Lesbos' other main refugee camp, Kara Tepe, but were not allowed in. Instead, they created temporary shelter for themselves by setting up tents. Police contained them to the stretch of road while the Greek government moved to rapidly create a new temporary camp.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
'We don't need food'
Following days of sleeping rough on the street in front of Kara Tepe, refugees organized a peaceful protest using bottles to try and make the authorities hear their demands. Most refugees are afraid of going back to a camp similar to Moria. "We don't want food, we want freedom," people told DW, over and over again. Human rights organizations had characterized Moria camp as an open-air prison.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
The power of protest
Hundreds of refugees took part in daily protests in the hopes that they would not be put into a new Moria-like camp. The Greek government responded by sending ten police platoons, two water cannons and two armored vehicles to the makeshift tent site in front of Kara Tepe. Some protests were met with tear gas. "Is it worth protesting?" one person expressed to DW.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
'Free us'
"Man & World Organization. We want water, no food, just free us," this Afghan girl's sign reads in English and Dari. The majority of refugees protesting the rough conditions come from war-torn or post-conflict zones, including Afghanistan and the DRC. Despite the trauma endured, children are active in protests, showcasing their determination to fight for their rights and future.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
Nothing is more permanent than temporary
The Greek government claims that the new refugee camp will be temporary. But refugees — some of whom have been in Greece for over a year — fear it will be another place of endless waiting. "Sto Nisi," a local Lesbos newspaper, published a contract showing that the Ministry of Migration Policy has rented the property where the new camp is to be located until 2025, for €2.9 million ($3.4 million).
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
No quick solution
One week after the Moria fire, refugees remained on the blocked road. Greek government officials claimed that people would be transferred rapidly to the new camp; however, by Tuesday night, only 1,000 people had moved there. The government announced that the island of Lesbos, the landing site for large numbers of refugees crossing the Aegean Sea, would be emptied of refugees by next spring.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
Family life in severe hardship
Refugees adapt in harsh conditions. Following days of hunger and thirst, refugees started receiving some basics: two bottles of water and food. But with the September sun scorching Lesbos, it is not enough. Some try to prioritize hygiene since, amidst everything else endured, they are now concerned about COVID-19. So far, at least 31 refugees who have moved into the new camp have tested positive.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
When the sun sets
The night brings more danger and fear to the refugees who live in the makeshift tent site on the road. "Can you imagine how it felt sleeping among so many men as a young woman? Going in the forest or hell [the tent area] for toilet? I couldn't sleep all night as I feared insects will come and sting my daughter and husband," one young Afghan woman told DW.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
'God help us'
Life in Moria was tough and dangerous. Many refugees there had lost all hope. Having already fled their homes, the Moria fire forced them to flee once more to save their lives. After sunset, at the makeshift tent site, dozens of women, children and men prayed on the street in front of a grocery store. They asked God to give them hope and for their voices to be heard. Many could not stop crying.
Image: DW/M. Karakoulaki
Tears for a absent future
Many of the refugees in Greece have suffered unbearable trauma, having left conflict zones and extreme poverty. "We didn't come here to collect money. We didn't come here to have a great time. We only want our children to have a better future and have an education," this Afghan man told DW through nonstop tears.
