A fire destroyed parts of one of Greece's largest migrant camps on the Aegean island of Chios. On Saturday a blaze tore through Vial camp destroying some accommodation and administrative facilities and leaving a few hundred homeless.
Germany is planning to take in up to 500 minors from the Greek islands in the next few weeks; starting with 50 unaccompanied children next week. Critics say this is too little, too late, given that tens of thousands of migrants and refugees remain in the overcrowded camps.
The civil liberties commission of the European Parliament has called on the EU to take immediate action to prevent an outbreak of Covid-19 among refugees and migrants in the overcrowded camps on the Greek islands.
Cruises across Europe have been suspended because of the coronavirus emergency. Migrant sea rescue organization Sea-Watch wants the empty cruise ships to be used to evacuate migrants from the Greek islands.
Migrants camps on the Greek islands have been put on lockdown for at least two weeks to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. No volunteers will be allowed in the camps, and school classes for migrant children have been suspended.
Several Greek islands, including Lesbos, have launched a labor stoppage following "extremely aggressive" clashes between police and anti-refugee protesters. Locals continue to call for an end to migrant camps.
Out of protest against government plans to build a network of detention camps on the Greek Aegean islands to replace overcrowded existing ones, hundreds of islanders on Thursday demonstrated in central Athens. They announced legal challenges and obstruction of the construction of the new facilities.
UNHCR is appealing to Greek authorities to increase efforts to put an end to "alarming" overcrowding and precarious conditions for migrants staying on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos, and Leros.
More protests have been planned for next week on the Greek island of Chios after the local municipal council of the eastern Aegean island rejected government proposals to open a new, closed pre-departure center for migrants on the island.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has renewed calls on Germany and other countries to take in migrants and refugees currently stuck in Greece. At the same time, his government plans to expedite deportations in the new year.
The refugee crisis in Greece continues to intensify. Local residents on the island of Chios staged a roadblock near the Vial reception center to protest against the camp's overcrowding on Monday.
The constant influx of refugees and migrants by boat to the shores of Greece's eastern Aegean islands from Turkey continues at an alarming rate this week, with close to 700 people arriving on Lesbos, Chios, and Samos in the past 48 hours.