Asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos protested for the second day in a row against the greatly deteriorated living conditions in the overcrowded Moria immigrant camp. Yesterday they wanted to go to the capital, but were driven apart by tear gas police. They demand that the asylum procedures be processed faster and, above all, want to get rid of the island quickly.
Rescuers describe the living conditions in Moria as terrible. At least 19,000 refugees and migrants live in and around the camp, while there is room for just under 3000 people. They hope to receive asylum there and then to travel to other EU countries.
The sharply increased number of arriving migrants last year and the enormous backlog in processing asylum applications have led to thousands of people being detained on the Greek islands.
Islanders also protest
The situation leads to tensions with the residents of the neighboring, eponymous village of Moria and the rest of the island. After yesterday’s migrants got out of hand, the Greek islanders went to the mayor of Lesbos and the governor. They call on the authorities to transfer the refugees to the mainland and to speed up the asylum procedure. The governor wants to declare a state of emergency for Lesbos, and also for Samos and Chios, where refugees and migrants are also in overcrowded camps.
Greece wants to address the situation in the camps by speeding up the process of asylum applications, sending asylum seekers with a rejected application back to Turkey faster – from where they came to Lesvos – and banning newcomers. The goal is to increase the number of people being sent back to 200 per week within the next three months. That would be a huge increase: 391 people were deported throughout 2019 and there were 85 last month.
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