Hundreds of residents of Moria village and surrounding areas on the island of Lesvos took to the streets on Monday morning protesting the presence of refugees and migrants outside the hot spot of the same name.
The protest rally turned really ugly when extremists from the ultra right-wing Golden Dawn who joined the protest attacked three women, one of them a volunteer at a refugees reception center. The woman was transferred to the local hospital for treatment. According to local website Empros.net, the police that was present did nothing to hinder the attack.
According to the same website, the injured were four university student attacked by 15 GD members while others from the same party were shouting “throw them to the sea”.
On social media, there are reports that also 70-year-old local attacked three female Syrian refugees and one Greek female journalist who tried to stop him.
According to some sources, the GD has been on the island in the last days zealously trying to incite the residents against the refugees and the migrants.
some migrant had apparently a flare
A little later, some 300 migrants escaped from the hot spot and attempted to launch a protest march, when rumors were spread that mass deportations to Turkey were imminent.
Police stopped them and forced them to turn back. On their way back, fires broke out in olive groves in the south and the north of the camp. the fires were put out by the fire brigades.
It looks as if the situation has not calmed down.
#Moria #Lesvos now still fights inside the camp pic.twitter.com/cBh8U5EsaO
— LifeguardHellas team (@lifeguardhellas) September 19, 2016
Municipality against NGO’s
Meanwhile, in an emergency meeting on Sunday, the municipality of Lesvos decided to request all NGOs leave from the refugee camp of Kara Tepe.
The meeting was called by Lesvos mayor Spyros Galinos, after media reports that a new camp was being created on the island, inside the former military camp of Lemonou. Work at the camp froze on Friday after the intervention of Defence Minister Panos Kammenos.
The Municipality has accused the NGO’s operating in Kara Tepe camp for participating in the creation of the new camp without informing the municipality. discovering they secretly assisted in opening new camp in Lemonou
The resolution released by the municipality says also says the municipality should have the exclusive jurisdiction and managerial autonomy over the camp with the role of the NGOs limited to supportive and advisory role.
Kara Tepe has been a model refugee camp, often visited by international VIPs who come to Lesvos to express solidarity with the refugees.
PS how is it possible that the Mayor did not know that there was a hot spot in the making since the camp was to be established the premises of a former military camp? But what should I know?
Since everything on Lesvos is being controlled by the EU, then the mayor should complain to Juncker and Avramopoulos. As for the presence of NGOs, they are the only people providing adequate assistance to the refugees. The Greek state is a disaster, in this as in all respects. With winter approaching, and the likely collapse of the EU-Turkey agreement, then the NGOs are essential.
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As for XA, if the police are not instructed to deal with them, this is the fault of the Ministry and of the government of Syriza. That ministry has been out of order for its entire history: why didn’t Tsipras take control of it? Does he think that his job is like that of the Queen of England — to wave at the Citizens of Greece from the distance, and make an annual tv speech? The Tsipras Speech, for Christmas, telling us what “his government” has planned for 2017.
you΄ρe unfair as the EU gives the only help it gives to NGO’s and not the GR state
I think the reason is that Samaras managed to spend millions on useless detention centres, just before Tsipras came into power, and the EU considers funding the Greek state to be a waste of money. I think they are probably correct: my informants tell me that all the people in the ministries dealing with refugees are without any expertise and are mostly kids with useless law or sociology degrees. Moreover, the NGOs have a clear track record of success, and the Greek state has a clear track record of incompetence in managing the situation.
you’re mostly wrong on this issue. eu gives money to ngos also in italy and there is no samaras there.
Italy also has a very poor track record on managing asyolum seekers — like Greece, trying to ignore them. It has started to improve in recent years, but it is not unreasonable to finance things that work, like NGOs.
ngo’s can’t do this type of heavy lifting.they are a failure wherever they go.if the tax rebates in home countries are stopped to the ngo’s and the Greek govt.stopped paying their way, they would dry up in a matter of days. they only come to 3rd world countries when they can make some money off an issue and export developed countries recessions.they don’t care about illegals…ngo’s are just a business
The EU money goes to the NGOs, not Greece, but you should read what the NGO workers are writing. They say that the local organizations are providing much more help than the NGOs who are up to their necks in bureaucratic red tape and who aren’t achieving anything. This means that the money the EU is giving is accomplishing nothing.
The reference to bureaucratic NGOs is to the international ones, like Red Cross. The local ones are also NGOs — who are financed by the EU as well. So your conclusion is erroneous.
check all the international ngos operating in GR – hundreds!
Yes, there are also hundreds of Greek ones. What is your point? My point is that they are managing a very bad situation, which the Greek state cannot manage. It may seem reasonable that the mayor of an island expects to be in control of everything, but it is actually absurd in the situation that has existed since mid-2015. Even UNHCR is struggling to cope; how can Greek local politicians manage an international crisis? I suspect he is just playing politics — complaining so that he looks good to voters. This is the usual behaviour of politicians worldwide: they don’t want to solve problems, only to look as if they are solving them.
ngo’s are a rip off. as soon as the money dries up..we will see how many stay in Greece.