Leader of Moria community goes on hunger strike
The leader of the Moria community on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos entered the second day of a hunger strike on Monday to demand immediate action to ease overcrowding at the Moria reception and identification center, which is currently bursting at the seams with around 8,000 asylum seekers.
Migration Policy Minister Dimitris Vitsas reportedly contacted Nikos Trakellis from Brussels, where he attended the informal European Union migration summit, and informed him of a series of measures under way to improve conditions. But Trakellis, who had a heart-related medical emergency earlier in the week, refused to end his hunger strike.
In comments to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, he said that “we have been living through the continuous destruction of our village since 2015” and that hygiene facilities that were constructed for 800 people are now be used by 8,000. “The sewage is poured into the nearby torrents and ends up in the sea, passing through our properties,” he said.
