Home » News » Brief look at new tent camp Lesbos: ‘This will be more humane’

Brief look at new tent camp Lesbos: ‘This will be more humane’

Where should the twelve thousand people on Lesvos go who camp on the verge of the main road? The Greek army has set up a brand new tent camp in record time. The European press was given a quick tour. Correspondent Europe Saskia Dekkers is in favor News hour on the island.

It is nearly six o’clock and a large group of cameramen is crowding in front of the fence. After all the criticism of the abuses in camp Moria, the Greek authorities want to show that asylum seekers are now well received.

That is why the European press is allowed to film the temporary camp. A quick tour has been organized. Very briefly and under the supervision of a strict information officer from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum Affairs. Journalists are not allowed to come along, they may ask difficult questions.

Short tour

White, clean tents are set up in tight rows on a bare mountain. “I am impressed by the fast pace with which the camp is set up,” says a UNHCR employee. “We are used to something, but the Greek army has worked remarkably hard.”

The tour lasts twelve minutes. Just enough to walk around the dry terrain. It is difficult to imagine that thousands of people will live here. What their tents look like on the inside? “That should not be filmed.” Only numbers are mentioned. Forty-two square feet per tent. Room for six to eight family members.

Europe correspondent Saskia Dekkers was at the new tent camp today:

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This is what the new tent camp on Lesbos looks like.

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Migrants entering the camp immediately undergo a corona rapid test. People who test positive must be quarantined in four larger tents. Worryingly, while few migrants have arrived, two tents are already living in infected people. And if all four of those tents are full? “Then new ones will be added,” explains the information officer.

“This camp will be more humane than Moria”, he promises. “There will be more water points, more toilets and more showers.”

Temporarily, but for how long?

Many asylum seekers are not waiting for this. They fear that they will have to live in these new white tents for months. Hundreds of women walked back and forth on the main road today in protest. They don’t want to go to the new shelter. “We refuse,” said a group of women from Afghanistan. “You can’t get us in.” They do not know whether they will continue their resistance for a long time.

The tent camp is called temporary. But what is temporary? A closed camp is being built on a new site on Lesvos with the support of the European Commission. But they are only initial plans. For the time being, people will have to live in tents on the bald mountain.

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