Lesvos man charged after firing at ‘sheep rustlers’

A livestock farmer on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos was released on Thursday pending trial on charges of illegal arms possession after opening fire on a group of migrants he claims were trying to steal his sheep on Wednesday.

A crowd of supporters cheered the 55-year-old as he left a court in Mytilene. The island’s mayor, Spyros Galinos, also reportedly expressed support for the farmer.

The incident, which did not result in any injuries, occurred near the Moria refugee processing center, where thousands of migrants and asylum seekers are living in squalid, crowded conditions.

Meanwhile a 21-year-old Iraqi man was being treated at a hospital in Imathia, northern Greece, for stab wounds sustained during a brawl at a nearby migrant processing center on Wednesday night.

The young man was injured in an altercation with another camp resident, a 48-year-old Syrian man, who has been arrested.