Clashes erupted and police fired tear gas as a large crowd of migrants protested on the Greek island of Lesbos after Moria refugee center, the largest in Europe, burnt down earlier this week.
The blaze at the severely overcrowded camp, which was initially designed to accommodate about 2,200, left more than 12,000 people, mainly Africans and Afghans, without shelter. Greek authorities have already started erecting a new tent settlement for them, but the migrants are demanding to be allowed to leave the island.
Hundreds of people marched across Lesbos on Saturday, chanting “Freedom” and “No camp.” Some of them carried signs which read, “We don’t want to go to a hell like Moria again” and “Can you hear us Mrs Merkel?,” appealing to the German chancellor to take them in.
Things got heated after the protesters tried to make their way down a road leading to the island’s port of Mytilene, which was blocked by the police. There were brief clashes, with law enforcement deploying teargas to make the migrants disperse.
A video by RT’s Ruptly video agency shows a teargas canister exploding in the middle of the crowd, and protesters fleeing.
