Mideast refugees and undocumented third country nationals set up roadblocks and lit fires inside and outside a temporary shelter on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos (Lesbos) in protest over living conditions at the site and continued deportations of illegal migrants to Turkey.
Police units were rushed to the scene, with reports of tear gas being used. The incidents coincided with a tour of the center by relevant migration policy minister Yiannis Mouzalas and other government officials.
A police source was quoted by Reuters as saying that the rioting first started in the area where minors are housed.
Local press reports claimed that the foreign natioanls also tossed plastic water bottles towards Mouzalas during his tour of the shelter and heckled him.
Lesvos has borne the brunt of the unprecedented refugee / migrant influx over the past year and a half, which has witnessed hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals landing on its shores after being ferried over from neighboring Turkey – often facilitated by criminal smuggling gangs operating on Turkish territory.
