In front of the European Parliament building in Brussels, protestors on Wednesday demanded the evacuation of the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos.
According to reports, there were about 60 people who held up placards featuring slogans that included Evacuate Moria Now', 'Leave No One Behind' and 'How Much Is Enough'.
On Tuesday night, a fire broke out at Moria Camp on the island of Lesvos at approximately 2 am after clashes began when some of the 35 refugees who tested positive for Covid-19 refused to move into isolation with their families.
The island of Lesvos was declared in state of emergency for four months, by order of Deputy Civil Protection and Management Crises Minister Nikos Hardalias and the general secretary of civil protection Vassilis Papageorgiou.
Thousands of homeless Moria camp residents will be temporarily housed in boats, navy ships & tents.
Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis also called for the immediate deportation of any residents of camp who may have contributed to the fire.
Meanwhile, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said he holds Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis "personally responsible" for the devastating fire in Greece’s largest migrant camp.
"The catastrophe at Moria is unprecedented. Unfortunately, the government of New Democracy has been managing the refugee and migration issue for a year now, with the sole criterion being the satisfaction of the extreme right-wing and its supporters," he said.
"This is exactly what we fought to prevent, as for four years we internationalized the migration crisis issue, brought Europe to face its responsibilities and found supporters in this endeavor: international organizations, states and world leaders, such as Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew," Tsipras continued.
He accused New Democracy of "siding with the EU extremists who emphatically deny solidarity and co-responsibility. Those who closed borders, erected walls and deployed armies against refugees. Those who blackmailed the EU into taking a stand, leading to various bad incidents at Moria, Eidomeni and even Italy's Lampedusa."
The image of the burning Moria camp hurts the pride of all Greeks around the world, he said and concluded: "The government must, here and now, take emergency measures to support the island, to immediately cover all health needs and finally proceed with a plan for the immediate decongestion of all the islands. Mr. Mitsotakis is personally responsible for this drama and is proving to be historically too small to manage one of the biggest issues that Greece and Europe have ever faced."
