Skála Sykaminéas (Greece) (AFP)
At Skala Sykamineas, a fishing village in Lesbos, where about 500 migrants arrived Thursday night, residents fear an explosion of arrivals and a repeat of the migration crisis of 2015.
"I will never forget the thousands of people who landed on the beach during the summer of 2015 ... Children, families, traumatized by a difficult crossing," recalls Elpiniki Laoumi, who is holding a tavern on this north beach of the Greek island.
At the peak of the 2015 migration crisis, up to 1,000 exiles a day arrived here from the nearby Turkish coasts on inflatable canoes.
Some lifejackets and deflated inflatable boats are sparsely visible, but the landscape is nothing like the summer of 2015.
For the inhabitants, there is no question of reliving this migration crisis that has deeply marked them.
Thursday evening, thirteen boats arrived in Lesbos with more than 540 people on board including 240 children, "an unprecedented rise," according to a Greek diplomatic source.
"The 13 boats arrived right in front of the restaurant ... I do not want to see the same pictures again as in 2015!" Sighs Elpiniki Laoumi.
"It always makes me sad to see young people leaving their country and coming to a new country with nothing, because they have no other choice," adds Stella, a Greek who emigrated young to Australia and who returns on vacation to his native island.
"Many people complain about refugees, and they think they come by choice, but I know what it's like to be a refugee and it's never easy!" Says the retiree.
The number of arrivals jumped to Lesbos in July, the highest since March 2016, but "since then, we have far exceeded this figure with more than 3,000 arrivals in August alone," said Friday. AFP Astrid Castelein, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) delegation on the island.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias even summoned the Turkish ambassador to Greece on Friday to remind him of Ankara's obligations under the EU-Turkey declaration of March 2016.
The Greek government, meeting in an emergency on Saturday, decided the rapid transfer of unaccompanied minors and the most vulnerable people from the islands to the mainland, as well as the abolition of asylum appeals procedures to facilitate the return of refugees to Turkey.
He also announced the reinforcement of the control of the maritime borders thanks to ten additional patrollers or the hiring of doctors and nurses in Lesbos in particular.
- To the overcrowded Moria camp -
The 546 refugees who landed on Skala Sykamineas beach on Thursday, including a majority of Afghans and families according to UNHCR, were taken to a transit camp near the village before being transferred to the "hotspot" of Moria to be registered and apply for asylum.
"This transit camp is there to help locals and local authorities, and allow refugees not to stay on the beach as before," says Leon Theologou, in charge of the site for UNHCR.
"We give them food, clean clothes, let them take a shower and we also spot people who need care and unaccompanied minors," says Leon Theologou.
On Saturday, all refugees arriving Thursday were to be transferred to Moria camp several kilometers from the village of Skala Sykamineas. But the registration and registration center already houses more than 10,000 people, four times the capacity assessed by UNHCR.
Hygiene conditions are unhealthy and newcomers do not even benefit from a tent.
Wasek, 25, arrived with the ten members of his family a week ago, and sleeps outside the camp on simple gray blankets. Among the plaids, a baby of 8 months. "We have a baby, my mother is very sick ... We can not stay in these conditions for a long time, especially as the temperatures will begin to drop ...", says the young Afghan to AFP.
© 2019 AFP