With Greece dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, daily Turkish air violations and discovering Turkish plans to transport more illegal immigrants to Greek islands, the already existing illegal immigrants on Lesvos island battled amongst themselves before turning against local people.
Two gangs of illegal immigrants, overwhelmingly Afghani, clashed in the infamous Moria migrant camp located to the north of Mytilene. It is not known why the two groups fought with each other, but the ‘battle’ took place on a private farm.
It was not long until many of the illegal immigrants, at first fighting each other with batons and stones, turned their weapons against the local population, with a passing car being attacked with a rock.
The clashes took place when the camp is supposed to be on a lockdown, demonstrating that they are willing to risk a breakout of coronavirus in the Moria camp to engage in violence. About half of the islands 50,000 illegal immigrants are kept at the Moria camp that is supposed to only host 3,000 people, making the possibility of an outbreak even greater.
As reported by Greek City Times, the Ritsona camp on the island of Euboea is quarantined after 20 illegal immigrants contracted coronavirus. The Malakasa camp near Athens is also quarantined after one Afghan man was tested positive.
Despite the uncontrollable situation in Moria, the European Union insists that Greece has the means and capabilities of dealing with the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, despite also dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and daily acts of Turkish aggression.
“I think they can manage,” Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for home affairs, told MEPs on Thursday.
However, Lesvos, as seen with the violence that took place, has become rife with criminality on what was a previously near-crime free island. In 2018, there was as many as one rape report a week in the Moria camp and an increase in killings on the island.
Thousands of islanders in a January protest chanted “We Want Our Island Back,” as reported by Greek City Times. At the protest, the North Aegean Regional Governor Kostas Moutzouris explained that what disturbed residents the most is how “our islands have become detention hubs of people from more than 80 countries.”
The irresponsible claim by Johansson does not take into account of not only the struggles of the Greek state to deal with many crises, but also the local people who have lost their way of life because of the massive surge in crime.
