Migration: clashes in Lesbos and Chios between police and residents

Clashes took place Tuesday between hundreds of residents of Lesbos and Chios and riot forces, who used tear gas amid controversy around new closed camps for migrants on these islands in the Aegean Sea.

Residents and local authorities gathered at the ports of these islands and in villages near the land designated for the construction of new camps to protest against the arrival of about a thousand riot police from mainland Greece to strengthen security on these islands, according to a police source.

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Tear gas and stun grenades were launched by law enforcement against groups of people who threw various objects at them, according to an AFP photographer. Two women were hospitalized for respiratory problems after the incidents, the same source said.

The government reiterated on Tuesday its determination to build these new closed camps to replace the unsanitary and overcrowded camps on the islands. " The new camps will be built, the old overflowed camps (of asylum seekers) will close, " said Stelios Petsas, during his weekly press briefing.

The government had tried several times to convince local authorities of the need for these new camps, but the latter were opposed to them. " Dialogue with local authorities cannot serve as an alibi for not continuing the work (...) we ask the inhabitants to trust us ," said Stelios Pepas.

" No turning back "

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had recently indicated that the project to build the new camps would be implemented despite the opposition it aroused in the population of the islands. " The works will start immediately and will be completed. There will be no turning back, "he said.

More than 38,000 migrants are currently crowded into camps set up on the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos in the Aegean Sea, whose total official capacity is 6,200. Construction of new camps on Lesbos and Chios, with an official capacity of 7,000 people each, is expected to start this week.

Local authorities and residents have indicated that after five years on the frontline of the migration crisis affecting Europe, they are no longer prepared to accept thousands of asylum seekers on their islands. Residents have threatened to block access to the sites of future camps to hinder their construction.

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The Conservative government, which came to power in July 2019, has announced that the existing camps in Lesbos, Samos and Chios will be closed during 2020 and replaced by new facilities. The objective is to reduce overcrowding on the islands by transferring thousands of migrants to other parts of Greece, but currently the government is at an impasse because on the continent local communities are also opposed to this measure.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Friday called for urgent action to remedy the " shocking and shameful " situation in which migrants live in existing reception centers on the islands. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has also called on the government to transfer asylum seekers, who are entitled, to mainland Greece.