Greek Islanders Protest Overcrowded Migrant Camps

Refugees get off a boat from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos. (Wikipedia Commons)

Thousands of Greek islanders held protests this week over the government’s handling of asylum- seekers on January 22.

The islands of Lesbos, Samos, and Chios are home to major refugee camps, but the rising number of immigrants has led to significant overcrowding. For instance, Moria, the largest camp on Lesbos, hosts more than 19,000 asylum-seekers, despite having the capacity for 2,840 the Telegraph reports.

On Wednesday, residents orchestrated a general strike, shutting down shops and public services, and took to the streets demanding restoration of their islands and greater administrative accountability. According to BBC, by midday, around 3,000 protesters had gathered in Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos, while another 1,500 demonstrators were in the center of Samos.

The protesters raised signs saying, “We want our islands back,” while others posed more direct attacks on the country’s administrative body, with one banner reading “No more prisons for human souls in the North Aegean.” Local residents such as 72-year- old Lesbos pensioner Efstratios Peppas called for more European responsibility on the issue, suggesting that asylum-seekers “should be shared out across Greece,” and that “Europe must assume its responsibilities. It too must take migrants.”

Though many of the protesters called for heavier controls on the influx of asylum-seekers, others were also sympathetic to the immigrants’ plight, seeing them as victims of the government’s negligence. Just this month, two young asylum-seekers were fatally stabbed in brawls at the Moria camp, per the Telegraph. In addition, three asylum seekers in Greek custody have committed suicide in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, North Aegean Regional Governor Kostas Moutzouris expressed his frustration over this violence, saying he was “annoyed” that the Greek islands had been “turned into places of concentration and detention” for thousands of people around the world. Giorgos, a local bartender in Samos, characterized the island as “a prison” where “the migrants aren’t allowed to leave the island. They aren’t free to go where they like,” BBC reported.

Greece has witnessed a dramatic rise in refugee numbers throughout the last twelve months. Last year, it became the main entry point into Europe for migrants, many of whom were fleeing conflict in areas including South Asia and Syria. In 2019, more than 59,000 individuals came to the country by sea, and 14,000 others via the land border with Turkey. The Greek government’s policy has sought to restrict these refugees to the camps as they await the processing of their asylum applications.

Human rights groups and medical charities have condemned the living conditions and resources in the camps, arguing that they pose “serious consequences to [the migrants’] well-being and public health,” reports the Telegraph. The agencies also warned of a rising “climate of discrimination and xenophobia” towards asylum-seekers.

With refugees themselves such as Hisham from Gaza calling the camps a “sickening environment,” and Martha from Ghana noting the feeling that the locals “don’t want the refugees here,” it is evident that both sides would benefit from more productive policies on the issue.