99 percent of the camp destroyed. Moria refugee camp is on fire
Some protesters held up handwritten posters that read “We don’t want to go back to a hell like Moria” and “Can you hear us, Ms. Merkel?” Five years ago, Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the German borders to many thousands of refugees. Many EU countries like the Federal Republic of Germany took in refugees, but some still refuse to do so today. “We sleep in the dirt or on the street,” reported a group of former camp residents on Facebook. “We have nothing to cover ourselves with, not even a jacket to protect us from the night cold and the wind.” Some fugitives even slept under the trees in the local cemetery. In addition, there is concern about the spread of the corona virus by infected camp residents who have still not been found, the group said. According to the Greek news agency ANA, the fires were started on Tuesday after protests by some residents of the camp, who were to be quarantined after a positive corona test.
Call for more refugees to be accepted in Germany.
“No toilet, no water” Moria refugees have to live among garbage
The fire in the overcrowded Moria camp on Wednesday left more than 12,000 people, mostly from Africa and Afghanistan, homeless. Most held out in the open air. The Greek government sent ships to Lesvos to give families and particularly needy people new places to sleep. Now a new temporary tent camp is to be set up. However, the Greek government rejects a transfer to the mainland — despite the growing resistance of the population of Lesbos against the camp. The fire that completely destroyed Moria has brought the debate about the distribution of refugees in the European Union back to the center. Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller urged the admission of more migrants from Moria than planned. Germany could set an example and accept 2000 people, said the CSU politician to Deutschlandfunk. Moria is a final wake-up call for the EU. After five years of refugee debate, the time had come to no longer rely on a uniform European line. Admitting 400 minors could only be the first step, said Scholz after a meeting of EU finance and economics ministers. “That has to be more.” A clear step is needed for Germany, regardless of whether other EU states join in. Scholz spoke of “terrible fates” in Moria. This shows what has gone wrong in European refugee policy in recent years. Hopefully the situation will at least contribute to a faster understanding within the EU.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced on Friday that Germany would accept 100 to 150 unaccompanied minor refugees. A total of nine EU states and Switzerland have so far agreed to allow the approximately 400 people from the camp to enter, according to the CSU politician.