Fire swept through Greece’s largest refugee camp that had been placed under COVID-19 lockdown, leaving more than 12,000 migrants in emergency need of shelter on the island of Lesbos on Wednesday, AP reports.
In dramatic scenes overnight, the migrants at Moria refugee camp fled fires that broke out at multiple points and gutted much of the camp and surrounding hillside olive groves. Protests also broke out involving migrants, riot police, and firefighters.
“It has been a very difficult night,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said, adding that a state on emergency would be declared later Wednesday on the island.
Some 12,500 people were living at the Moria camp and the surrounding area, where additional restrictions have been imposed over the past week after a Somali resident tested positive for the coronavirus.
