ANTHI PAZIANOU

Against the backdrop of work to change the Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesvos into a smaller closed reception center and the announcement for the creation of a new health center, locals are planning a protest rally Saturday against unsubstantiated rumors that plans are afoot for the requisition of sites to accommodate more asylum seekers. 

Rumors that the government plans to rent hotels to house asylum seekers have renewed tension on the northern Aegean island of Lesvos, and particularly in the town of Molyvos, between hoteliers, locals, organizations and volunteers dealing with the refugees.

The regional governor for the northern Aegean islands has thrown his weight behind calls by local mayors and residents to halt construction of closed centers for migrants and refugees. 

As part of an ongoing effort to relieve some of the pressure on the islands of the eastern Aegean, 668 asylum seekers deemed vulnerable were transferred from the overcrowded Moria reception center on Lesvos to the Ritsona camp in Attica.

Philippe Leclerc, the representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency in Greece, urged European Union member-states to accept asylum seekers from countries burdened by migration, following violent clashes on Wednesday between migrants at the Moria Reception and Identification Center.

The head of the Moria migrant processing center on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos, Yiannis Balpakakis, does not rule out resigning, saying that he is exhausted of dealing with the challenges of overcrowding.

Overcrowding at the Moria migrant camp on Lesvos has reached worrying proportions, with 8,359 residents cramped into a facility designed to hold just 3,100.

Authorities on Lesvos, the main island gateway to the European Union for nearly a million refugees since 2015, have denied reports of plans to set up a new migrant camp, amid controversy over an alleged municipal campaign to deter groups of asylum seekers from visiting a popular beach.

The leader of the Moria community on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos ended on Wednesday a hunger strike which he had started on Sunday in protest at overcrowding at the Moria reception center.