Lesvos allows prefabricated refugee homes to be delivered

Authorities on the island of Lesvos on Tuesday morning lifted a blockade against the delivery of 50 shipping container homes that are bound for the migrant reception and processing center of Moria.

The prefabricated units had been on a ferryboat at the port of Mytilini since Monday morning, when the municipal authority ordered its garbage trucks to form a blockade that prevented the government-chartered ship from offloading its cargo.

It was unclear what prompted the decision to allow the container homes to be offloaded and transported to a location near Moria camp, which has come under intense criticism for squalid conditions, with humanitarian groups warning that hundreds of refugees and migrants at the overcrowded facility are still staying in summer tents.

Minister of State Alekos Flambouraris did, however, write to Lesvos Mayor Spyros Galinos on Monday to offer assurances that the container homes would not be used to create a new camp on the island, but only to accommodate refugees staying in tents in Moria.

Galinos and the mayors of the other eastern Aegean islands that are bearing the brunt of refugee and migrant arrivals from Turkey have warned of backlash from local residents and camp communities unless Athens agrees to transfer thousands of migrants and refugees from their overflowing facilities to the mainland.