Greek authorities on Thursday postponed the closure of a volunteer-run camp for vulnerable asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos. But they said they would carry out an evacuation "as soon as possible".
A month ago, on September 12, the Greek government opened a new migrant camp on Lesbos, after Moria was destroyed by fire. The new camp is home to about 10,000. InfoMigrants went to meet some of them last week.
More than 240 asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos have contracted the novel coronavirus. They are all housed at a temporary camp accommodation after the devastating fire at the Moria camp earlier in September.
Thousands of migrants have refused to enter the new tent settlement erected by Greek authorities after flames swept through the Moria camp, saying that they wanted to leave the island of Lesbos. As humanitarian conditions worsen, InfoMigrants talked to several asylum seekers who have only one demand: leave Lesbos.
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.”
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.
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.
Protesters have set up chairs in Berlin to represent residents of the overcrowded Moria camp in Greece. They say the first positive coronavirus test at the camp has made the need for intervention even more urgent.
Roughly 300 migrants are camping out under the national highway in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis. Nearly every morning police officers order them to get out; and food distribution points keep getting pushed farther away from the heart of the French capital.
Tension is rising in northwestern Bosnia where authorities have launched a crackdown on thousands of migrants. The UN migration agency has warned that the crackdown is fueling a "volatile situation."
Four people have reportedly tested positive for coronavirus in the Vial refugee camp on Chios, bringing the total number of infections to five. An earlier case was detected last week.
Vulnerable migrants in the Malakasa camp north of Athens are being forced to live in poor conditions unable to register for asylum. One Gambian national who arrived in March has been telling InfoMigrants of frustration among residents.