Migrants, Greek government sets up temporary camp to welcome refugees from Lesbos

• Migrants, Merkel-Macron agreement to welcome 400 children from Lesbos

• Greece, huge fire in the refugee camp in Lesbos.

  Thousands of migrants fleeing

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September 11, 2020 - Greek authorities have started setting up temporary camps on the island of Lesbos to welcome migrants who previously lived in Moria, which was set on fire leaving over 12,000 people without shelter.

According to reports from the Dpa, the camp is being built on the area of ​​a shooting range of the Greek army.

The place is located a few kilometers north of Mytilini, the island's capital.

A smaller camp, Kara Tepe, is located near Mytilini and is run by UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.

In the next few hours, EU-funded ships will be deployed to Greece to shelter the most vulnerable asylum seekers after the fire that destroyed the Moria camp in Lesbos.

This was announced by the vice-president of the Schinas Commission, who last night checked the situation on the island.

The European Union will also finance the construction of a new camp on Lesbos.  

The 400 unaccompanied minors evacuated from the island of Lesbos, after the fires in the Moria refugee camp, will be welcomed by 10 European countries.

This was announced by the German Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, quoted by Deutsche Welle, in a press conference with the vice president of the European Commission, Margaritas Schinas.

Germany and France are expected to welcome between 100 and 150 unaccompanied minors each.

The other eight countries that have joined include the Netherlands which will welcome around 100 minors, while Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have refused.  

On

island of Lesbos, the challenge that humanitarian institutions and organizations are facing is to ensure new housing for refugees left homeless.

This morning the creation of a tent city was started in the open-air shooting range of Panagiouda - not far from Moria - but, according to the local press, more than 12,000 people remained in the open.

Photos and videos disseminated on social networks document that thousands of people have had to adapt to sleep along roadsides or in cemeteries.

The attempt to house over a thousand migrants on the Blue Star ferry failed when the refugees resisted by setting up barricades to block the roads.

A situation, warns the daily Kathimerini, which is increasing tensions with the local population, which has already shown signs of intolerance.

Public officials and aid workers distribute tents and blankets, food and water.

As reported by the journalist of the daily Der Spiegel, Giorgos Christides, present in the camp, the tension is palpable: many traders prevent refugees from buying products in their shops.

To control the situation, Athens sent officers in riot gear who had already reached the areas where refugees have set up makeshift shelters.

The Greek government has urged European Union countries to take in some of the refugees, in order to ease the pressure on Lesbos, because the Moria camp was designed to accommodate no more than 4,000 people.

At the moment only France, Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to take in a quota of refugees.