Posted on September 30, 2019

Migrants in Greece Set Fires at Camp; At Least 1 Killed

Demetris Nellas and Costas Kantouris, AP, September 29, 2019

Migrants protesting at an overcrowded camp on the Greek island of Lesbos set fires and clashed with police Sunday, killing at least one person, authorities said.

A burned body was brought to a local hospital and there is information about an unconfirmed second death, police said. The protesters were demanding to be transferred to the Greek mainland.

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UNHCR Greece later tweeted that “we learned with deep sadness that the lives of a woman and a child were lost in a fire on (Lesbos) today.”

Greek police spokesman Lt. Col. Theodoros Chronopoulos told the AP that the migrants set a blaze at an olive grove outside the camp just before 5 p.m. (1400 GMT; 9 a.m. EDT) and, minutes later, inside the camp. Kytelis said that both fires were later extinguished.

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About 12,000 migrants, most of them Afghans, are housed in a space designed for 3,000.

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