The Greek government is planning to close the temporary camp in Kara Tepe and build a new refugee camp on the island of Lesbos. According to the spokesman for the Greek Ministry of Migration, Alexandros Ragavas, it is to be built in Plati about eight kilometers west of the capital Mytilene. According to the refugee aid organization Lesbos Solidarity, however, it is planned to be near a garbage dump around 35 northwest of Mytilene.
The new camp – a „closed and controlled center“ according to Ragavas – is to be operated by the Greek government together with the EU Commission in „co-management“. The facility will have a closed area for refugees who are to be deported, Ragavas specified in a press briefing today. The remaining inmates should be housed in a „controlled“ area.
The camp will be surrounded with a fence „as a measure to protect the refugees“, said the government spokesman. Overall, it will offer an improved infrastructure and better security for those working in the warehouse. The new warehouse is to be built by September this year.
The representative of the NGO Lesbos Solidarity, Efi Latsoudi, was skeptical about this schedule. She pointed out that the government had not yet succeeded in providing electricity and running water for the refugees in the Kara Tepe camp and in another camp on the island of Samos.
