Clashes on Greek island over construction of new migrant camp

(Patria) – Clashes broke out early Tuesday morning on the Greek island of Lesbos between local residents and police over the construction of a new migrant center.

Witnesses state that around 500 local residents attempted to prevent the unloading of heavy construction machinery in the port, even though they were under police escort. Street clashes ensued, with island residents attempting to prevent access to the construction site.

The planned camp on Lesbos will be of a closed type with stricter access control, and will replace the existing open camp Moria, which was designed for less than 3,000 people, but currently houses more than 18,000 asylum seekers.

Reuters writes that Greek authorities plan to build closed-type camps on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos, and Leros, which are close to Turkey, from where migrants head to Europe every year.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants already arrived in Europe via Greece and Turkey in 2015 and 2016, before the EU restricted the process. However, since the summer of 2019, the number of arrivals has been increasing again.