A medical clinic at the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos has been destroyed in rioting between residents.
The overnight medical clinic at the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos in the Eastern Aegean Sea has been destroyed in rioting between migrants staying at the overcrowded facility. Police said fighting broke out late on Monday night between groups of Iraqi migrants stranded at the camp, causing severe damage to the clinic near the facility's North gate. Authorities at the camp began work on repairing the emergency clinic on Tuesday.
Tension high at Moria camp
Tensions have risen at Moria, with a greater influx of migrants arriving in boats from the Turkish coast in recent weeks causing numbers to rise to 6,300. The camp was built to hold just 3,000, and living conditions have been heavily criticized by human rights organizations. Last month, a 26-year-old Syrian refugee was hospitalized after setting himself on fire at Moria in protest after having had his application for asylum rejected a second time. Violent rioting at the camp also saw eight police officers injured in clashes with around 150 migrants. Amnesty International has responded by calling on the Greek government to take urgent direct action as overcrowding, poor sanitation and security lapses are putting refugees and migrants lives at risk in all of the Northeast Aegean camps.
More arrivals during Greek Orthodox Easter holiday
The problems of the ongoing migrant crisis have not been helped by the arrival of 607 more refugees on the shores of the Eastern Aegean islands during the Greek Orthodox Easter Holiday period, which ended on Monday. Of that number, 418 arrived on Lesbos, 69 on Chios and 120 on Samos from April 6 to April 9. In total, over 60,000 refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have been stranded in Greece for more than 12 months, after border shutdowns across the Balkan region stopped their planned journeys.