Tensions were
high on the Greek island of Chios on Friday after unknown individuals hurled
rocks and petrol bombs at a makeshift camp for refugees and migrants, setting
facilities on fire, police sources and aid organizations said.
Video footage
showed people struggling to put out the flames with blankets. Women and
children were evacuated and camped outside a tavern in an incident which
erupted overnight Thursday.
It was the
second night running of incidents at the facility, a makeshift camp run by the
local municipality of the Aegean island. There were incidents on Wednesday when
individuals let off fireworks from the camp and outsiders threw stones into the
camp.
"Both
incidents together have destroyed the places to sleep for some 100 men women
and children. Today there was a third incident where .... stones were thrown
and one Syrian man was seriously injured to his head and had to be
hospitalized," said Roland Schoenbauer, spokesman for UNHCR Greece.
According to
police, there are more than 1,000 refugees and migrants in the Souda Camp on
Chios.
Under a
European Union deal with Turkey, migrants and refugees arriving after March 20
are to be held in centers set up on five Aegean islands, including Chios, and
sent back if their asylum applications are not accepted.
Tensions have
boiled over at overcrowded camps on Greece's islands as the slow processing of
asylum requests adds to frustration over living conditions.
"Tensions
are not completely new, but the situation is seriously concerning us, because
it has deteriorated seriously. The tensions are linked to the overcrowding of
the sites," Schoenbauer said, saying the perpetrators of the incidents
should be found and brought to justice.
More than
3,000 migrants and refugees are currently in Chios. The state facilities have a
capacity for 1,100 people.
The situation
could be eased if authorities improved security around the camp and stepped up
efforts to find refugee and migrants alternative accommodation, Schoenbauer
told Reuters.
In September,
thousands of people fled a migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos after
fire swept through tents and cabins during violence among residents.
Reuters
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