Greece asked the European Union for humanitarian aid on Monday to prevent it being overwhelmed by growing refugee flows, as a minister said arrivals on Lesbos has swollen to three times as many as the eastern island could cater for.
Its economy already stretched close to breaking point, Greece is struggling to cope with thousands of people, mainly from Syria, who are fleeing poverty and war.
Tensions have flared on Lesbos and nearby Kos, favoured migration entry points to the EU due to their proximity to Turkey.
Interim migration minister Yannis Mouzalas said 15,000 to 18,000 refugees were on Lesbos, an island he said could cope with 4,000-5,000. “The situation is wretched,” he told state TV.
Greece earlier requested the EU activate the bloc’s crisis-response body to provide staff, medical and pharmaceutical supplies, clothes and equipment, the interior ministry said.
On Monday morning, a Greek ferry unloaded 2,500 migrants at the port of Piraeus, bringing the total number of people moved to the mainland since last Monday to more than 15,000.
Thousands more are waiting to be identified and ferried to Athens, from where most head north-west to other European countries, many via Greece’s border with Macedonia.
Mr Mouzalas said the government planned to remove 12,000 refugees from Lesbos over the next five days by increasing the number of ships ferrying people to Athens from three to four or five, with a total capacity of about 8,000. It will also set up reception and registration centres and convert some ships into temporary homes for refugees, many of whom are sleeping rough on the islands’ streets.
“We can’t solve the problem but we can provide solutions to alleviate it,” he said. Earlier on Monday, Greece requested that the EU civil protection mechanism is activated “in order to substantially strengthen the efforts ... to manage a volatile situation.”
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