Migrants clash with farmers on Chios; riot breaks out in Lesvos camp
Ten migrants staying at a camp in the former Vial factory on the eastern Aegean island of Chios were being questioned by police on Monday morning following tension with a pair of local famers.
According to state broadcaster ERT, several migrants from the camp were allegedly trying to steal vegetables from a greenhouse near the Vial facility when they were challenged by the farmers, a 73-year-old man and his 45-year-old son.
An argument broke out, attracting the attention of other residents at the camp, but police arrived at the scene before the situation got out of hand. They confiscated five plastic bags of vegetables, as well as a hunting rifle.
Meanwhile, police were also called in the early hours of Sunday to quell a riot that broke out at the Moria refugee processing center on Lesvos.
Reports suggested the riot was mostly restricted to the area of the massively overcrowded camp housing some 350 unaccompanied minors, and caused damage to UNHCR facilities and the office of a non-governmental organization.
Local authorities on Lesvos were on strike on Monday in protest at the situation that has developed on the island, as well as on others in the eastern Aegean, from a spike in arrivals and continued delays in the processing of migrants and refugees who have already been trapped in camps for months.
The island’s mayor, Spyros Galinos, called the general strike last week, noting that the rising migrant population “has fueled insecurity among citizens.” Authorities on Lesvos want the government to move migrants from the overcrowded facilities on the islands to the mainland.
