Three days after multiple fires destroyed most of the Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, thousands of the former residents are still sleeping out in the open. Although the authorities are starting to offer emergency accommodation for some, their efforts are being contested by some locals. Charities working with migrants in the area say provision is so far “ineffective.”
Denmark has appointed a new special migration envoy to "help open doors" towards a new EU migration policy which would push reception centers outside EU borders. The government on Thursday also said that Tunisia should take in the 27 migrants aboard the Danish-flagged tanker Maersk Etienne which has been stranded off Malta for weeks.
The Spanish coast guard has confirmed that they rescued 283 migrants from several boats on Tuesday and Wednesday as they approached the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Among the new arrivals, one dead body was found on board.
Following two nights of fires at the Greek migrant camp on the island of Lesbos, the authorities are providing temporary accommodation on board navy ships, ferries and in new tents being flown in. Thousands of the former residents spent the night sleeping on the roads and in fields with what few belongings they were able to save from the fires.
Italian authorities have grounded an aircraft used by the non-government organization Sea-Watch to search for migrant boats in distress. Sea-Watch says it is a deliberate ploy to stop them from reporting what is taking place in the Mediterranean.
Reactions to and speculation about the causes of a fire which has destroyed large parts of the migrant camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos are coming thick and fast. Now that almost 13,000 people are without shelter, what will politicians and the EU do? Some say the fire has sent current European migration policy up in flames too.
British and French authorities are reporting having picked up hundreds of migrants in the English Channel on Monday, September 7. Kent border force vessels said they had intercepted more than 200 and French authorities reported rescuing more than 80 people on their side of the water.
A video published on the website of the Maltese newspaper Times of Malta shows footage purporting to be from inside the Safi military barracks on the island nation where migrants claim they are being held for months at a time. Conditions are so bad, some are begging to be allowed to return home.
Two protests happened in Dover in the UK over the weekend. One in support of migrants passed off relatively quietly and a second one protesting against the arrival of migrants across the English Channel resulted in clashes between protesters and police.
The Cypriot authorities have said they are "alarmed" after a total of five migrant boats arrived on or near their shores from Syria and Lebanon in the space of 48 hours. The boats were carrying a total of 183 migrants.
Mohammed Tahseen Beik is Syrian. He was a student in Syria when in early September 2015 his father convinced him to leave Syria for Germany. He was interviewed by the press as he arrived and again now. Five years on from Angela Merkel’s famous phrase: "Wir schaffen das" (We can do it), is Mohammed happy in Germany?
Alex Assali came to Germany in October 2014 from Syria, fleeing war, political persecution and IS. He obtained refugee status and wanted to give something back to Germany, so he started a soup kitchen for homeless people in Berlin. His actions went viral and now he has found love and marriage in Germany too.