Afghan refugees and migrants continued their protest also on Saturday after many of them spent the night outside the hot spot in Moria on the island of Lesvos. They demand better living conditions but also equal treatment in their asylum requests similar to those of Syrian refugees.
Afghan refugees are heading to the city from Moria to protest the conditions and violence in the camp.#Refugeesgr pic.twitter.com/bVucmQpJvP
— Barba Midilli (@uzomeze) October 21, 2017
Afghan families holding their children by the hand marched from the hot spot Moria to the city of Mytilene to protest conditions and violence in the camp that hosts more than 5,000 people.
Police forces deployed in the north exit of Mytilene-Mantamathos highway did not allow the group to proceed to the city and especially to the market place.
The people decided to launch a sit-in protest in front of the police vehicles. By 2:30 when the shops closed, police allowed a group of some 100 protester to head to the city.
On Friday, the atmosphere in the camp was explosive and ethnic groups clashed with teach other. A 55-year-old man suffered a heart attack and died due to the tension, local media report.
Women and children spent the night outside the camp. They slept on the pavement, while men lit fires and kept guarding the mobilization all through the night.
Clashes between ethnic groups, especially between Afghans and Arabs occur often but police says it is hardly in position to intervene dynamically with teargas and sound flares due to the presence of some 1,000 children below the age of 8.
A member of the Moria management told athensnewsagency that the hygiene conditions in the camp are extremely poor, the water and sewage system is not sufficient for so many people. . ” Moria was reportedly designed for 800 people but it hosts more than 5,476 people.
Greece’s Migration ministry plans to have relocated 1,500 vulnerable asylum seekers from the islands to the mainland the latest by begin of November.
#RefugeesGr Περίπου 180 #πρόσφυγες & #μετανάστες έφτασαν από την Σάμο στον Πειραιά χτες το βράδυ |📷 @YannisKolesidis https://t.co/qv4WjbRdkx pic.twitter.com/VbAdBqroHV
— ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ (@amna_news) October 21, 2017
180 migrants arrived to Pireaus from the island of Samos – via amna.gr
Also on the neighboring island of Chios, refugees launched a protest against the extremely poor living conditions in the overcrowded hot spot of VIAL.
As they did in 1016, vulnerable refugees and migrants, mothers with babies in their arms, little children, elderly and young men left the VIAL camp and launched a protest at the port of the island.
According to local politischios.gr, refugees and migrants started to flock to the port and settled opposite the Port Authorities already on Thursday.
Souda refugee camp of #Chios
The end….#Refugeesgr #antireport #refugees pic.twitter.com/JzYRVI5lFL— Theurgia_Goetia (@Theurgia_Goetia) October 21, 2017
Another camp on the island, the Souda camp, closes down by the end of October as the European Commission decided to halt the funding to the camp management company, a subsidiary of the Chios Municipality.
According to UNHCR, 4,607 people arrived on the islands in the month of September. The total number of people on the islands of Eastern Aegean Sea is more than 13,500, while the official capacity is fewer than 6,000 for the reception centers.
