More than 120 refugees arrived on Lesvos on Thursday as state and local authorities continue to gradually remove migrants and refugees from the island’s overcrowded and trouble-stricken camp in Moria.
More than 300 migrants have already been removed from the Moria camp and relocated to other centres in Greece while another 1,500 will be transferred off the island by the end of October. The latter transfer was decided during the visit to the island of Migration Secretaries General Miltiadis Klapas and Andreas Gougoulis.
More than 7,500 individuals stranded on Lesvos are awaiting a decision on their refugee status applications which is a record number of people following the European Union-Turkey agreement of March 2016.
Moria itself is so crowded that tents have been set up outside the perimeter of the hotspot. The Asylum Service, which uses a large part of the centre, is expected to vacate the premises and move to another building off-site. Their move will free up enough space for another 500 people.
On Thursday, about 120 migrants arrived at the shores of Lesvos, while another 150 set foot on Inousses island, near Chios. Overall, 2,263 individuals arrived in the North Aegean in the month of Octrober. Broken down per island, they are as follows: 1,348 on Lesvos, 722 on Chios, and 193 on Samos.
The Moria camp was designed to accommodate 2,500 people but ended up housing 5,500 migrants and as a result has been at the centre of protests and violent outbreaks.
