Presumably residents of Moria have the to burn in the migrant camp last night itself. The Greek Prime Minister lashed out at them in a speech. Last night is again fire broke out.
But the migrants are not the only culprits, Adil Izemrane says. He is a co-founder of Movement on the Ground, an organization that helps people in Moria. “It was only a matter of time. We as Europe have created the conditions in which people start to behave like animals.”
Inferno
Several fires broke out last night in the camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. Partly because the fire brigade was pelted with stones and sticks, a large part of the camp burned down. Thousands of residents have become homeless.
Izemrane employees were there. They told him that the fires started at a place where migrants who had tested positive for corona were in quarantine. “The people who lived around it were fearful of contamination. That, combined with the months of frustration and uncertainty, resulted in a demonstration that caused fires to break out. It’s super dry, there has been no rain for months, and that led to an inferno. . “
Yousef from Iraq has lived in Moria since 2017. “I have fought in the army, but I have never seen such a disaster as yesterday’s.” We speak to him via Skype:
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‘Take the people out of this hell and take them to the mainland’
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Refugee camps in Greece have become overcrowded in recent years. This spring there were more than 20,000 people in Moria, while the capacity is actually 3,000. Greece brought a number of migrants to the mainland this summer, but 13,000 people are still far too busy in the camp.
Due to corona, most residents have not been allowed to leave the camp for months. New residents had to be quarantined first. Last week, 35 people turned out to be infected. “The outbreak put things on edge,” said Izemrane. “There was no plan from the Greek government, there was no plan for quarantine.”
‘Shortages drove people mad’
The overpopulation led to dire situations even before corona. For example, there is hardly any sanitary facilities and clean water. Izemrane: “There is a shortage of everything a person needs. The shortage of psychosocial help and medical facilities has driven people who are already traumatized to insane.”
“We saw this coming for a while. I think corona has now been the last straw, but it was also a matter of time. This is not the first fire, but the biggest.”
Facilities in the area outside the enclosure of Moria, where most of the migrants reside due to overcrowding, have also largely been reduced to ashes, Izemrane says. His organization makes its facilities available for emergency shelter and food supply. “We need everything now: sleeping bags, food, mats to lie on. It’s almost one war zone at this time.”
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Five years of European mismanagement has brought us to where we are today.
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Europe is also to blame, says Izemrane. Countries have failed to create a “sustainable” way of sheltering refugees. “This is a European problem. Five years of mismanagement has led to where we are today. Today is the result of an outdated European asylum system.”
European agreements on the redistribution of refugees have not been implemented in recent years. Doctors and aid organizations warned this spring that if other European countries did not quickly take over asylum seekers from Greek islands, corona in the camps would have catastrophic consequences.
Izemrane: “We really have to solve this as a Union: more sustainable reception and fairer redistribution is the only answer. If there is ever a moment where we should, it is today.”
Nieuwsuur visited Lesbos just before the corona crisis and saw the harrowing conditions in and around camp Moria:
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