Clashes on Greek islands in protest against migrant camp

Monitoring Desk

ATHENS: Clashes broke out on two Greek islands early on Tuesday between police and residents protesting the construction of migrant detention centers at a focal point of the refugee crisis. Incidents were reported on Lesbos and Chios, outlying Greek islands on the front line of a migratory flow of refugees and asylum seekers.

Witnesses said about 500 people attempted to block the unloading of heavy machinery overnight to break ground at a construction site on Lesbos. Clashes on the streets followed, with residents attempting to block access to the construction site. Police used teargas in clashes with locals close to the area, where scores of people wore surgical masks, including a priest. Similar tensions were reported on Chios.

Greece’s conservative government has taken a markedly tougher stance toward migration compared to the previous leftist government, issuing a tender for the construction of a floating fence to deter asylum seekers arriving by sea and introducing faster processing procedures that could increase deportations.

The site on Lesbos will be a closed camp that tightly controls access and will replace a current open-access camp at Moria, a sprawling facility built for less than 3,000 people which is now accommodating more than 18,000 asylum seekers. (Reuters)