Camp Moria was engulfed in flames first Wednesday night. According to Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis, the fire was started by the residents themselves due to quarantine requirements. On Wednesday evening, another fire broke out, which the firefighters managed to put out, but also destroyed what was left of the camp after the previous fire. According to the Greek authorities, the second of the fires was also started intentionally.
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“Some people do not respect the host country,” said Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas. He also said that those who started the fires did so because they “thought that if they set Moria on fire, they would get out of the island.” “They won’t leave him because of the fire,” he added.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have indicated that their countries, along with other EU countries, want to take in 400 children and unaccompanied minors from the camp, the DPA news agency reported. How they would have divided them among themselves has not yet been determined. Greece is said not to ask for the takeover of other migrants so as not to provoke sabotage in other camps.
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On Thursday morning, several smaller fires lit up among the remains of the tents set up outside Moria’s main camp, blown by a strong wind. The flames caused irreparable damage, leaving only the structures standing between the charred olive tree trunks, the AP agency described.
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Thousands of refugees spent the night in the fields, on the roadsides near the camp, or in the local cemetery. Police prevented several young men from reaching the town of Mytilene, the center of the island of Lesbos, with tear gas.
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In the camp, coronavirus infection was confirmed in 35 people before the fire, and there are still fears that the virus will start to spread uncontrollably on the island.
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The Ministry of Migration said that on Thursday it will take “all necessary steps to be the first to obtain accommodation for vulnerable people and families in designated places”. In the meantime, however, a group of angry local people blocked the road leading to the camp and tried to prevent the transport of material needed to build dormitories.
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The camp was home to more than 12,000 people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia who fled poverty and conflict in their home countries. It had a capacity of just over 2,750 people, and humanitarian organizations have long drawn attention to the miserable conditions in which migrants live there.
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European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas and EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson are set to introduce a new pact on migration soon. Its aim will be to end years of dispute over which countries should be responsible for managing the influx of migrants and whether their partners have a duty to help them.
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Already in January this year, the Czechia refused to accept 40 child refugees from Greek camps. The government was called upon to do so by non-profit organizations and many personalities. However, Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček (CSSD) expressed concern that Afghan or Pakistani boys aged 16 to 18 could come to the Czech Republic. “I consider this a security risk,” he said.
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Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES) also repeated in the past that the Czechia will not accept any migrants.
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