Fire engulfs overcrowded refugee camp on Greek tourist island

The Moria migrant camp on the Greek Island of Lesbos has been destroyed by fire. Dateline talked to Douglas Herman, who runs an organisation for asylum seekers on the island, about the impact - as his team revealed the camp’s residents having no choice but to sleep on the streets.

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Thousands of migrants are fleeing Greece’s Moria migrant camp, which is under a COVID-19 lockdown, after a fire tore through much of the site on Wednesday.

Located on the island of Lesbos, the camp hosts more than 11,000 people - more than four times its capacity - with makeshift shelters surrounding the main facility.

Tensions had been rising at the camp, which has been in strict COVID-19 lockdown, after harsher restrictions were imposed when a Somali resident tested positive for the coronavirus last week.

Authorities have not confirmed the cause of the blaze, nor determined that they had been set deliberately to protest lockdown measures.

A fire has destroyed much of the Moria migrant camp in Lesbos, Greece. Source: ReFOCUS Media

Douglas Herman, who works with Moria asylum seekers as the co-founder of ReFocus Media Labs - an organisation that teaches content creation skills in refugee camps - says those living at the camp had been worried the COVID-19 lockdown was a ploy to convert the area to a detention-like facility. He believes those tensions have spilled over.

“According to our students [at ReFocus Media], people do not believe that coronavirus is in the camp but it is a ploy to push for a closed detention centre,” he said.

Migrants are now fleeing on foot from the camp. Mr Herman said they are being stopped by police on the road.

Associated Press reported that early Wednesday, riot police were deployed along the highway that connects the camp to the island’s capital, Mytilene, some 5 kilometres to the south.

The Greek island of Lesbos, which lies off the coast of Turkey, has become a stepping stone into Europe for asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. It became the frontline of the 2015-16 migrant and refugee surge into Europe. More than a million asylum seekers entered the EU that year; over half of them landed on Lesbos.

Moria camp is a former military base that was never intended to be a permanent refugee camp. It has but has since become a semi-permanent facility, and is currently home to thousands of stranded migrants.

Lesbos residents have been frustrated that plans for more permanent facilities (like medical clinics) have meant the asylum seekers would stay long-term.

Asylum seekers hold up signs in the Moria Refugee Camp on Lesbos island, Greece. Source: Dateline

Locals claim refugees are driving away tourists, with residents protesting the camp earlier this year. NGO workers and asylum seeker advocates say they are often verbally abused by Lesbos locals who oppose migrants and refugees staying on the island.

Mr Herman says what is now playing out is a disastrous manifestation of those tensions. He said the future of those living at the camp is uncertain. If most of the camp is destroyed, thousands will be left without any shelter.

“It is a really disastrous situation,” Mr Herman said.