Shades of 2015 are emerging on a handful of eastern Aegean islands, with another eight inflatable craft and boats reaching Lesvos (Mytilene) overnight, carrying 323 irregular migrants and would-be asylum seekers that disembarked from the opposite Turkish coast.
More than 15,000 third country nationals – from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and even south Asia – are now housed on the island’s Moria “hotspot”, a notoriously squalid temporary shelter by west European standards.
Meanwhile on the island of Leros, a protest was held by local residents over the prospect of 3,000 irregular migrants being transported there from even smaller Symi isle, which lies only a few kilometers west of the Turkish coast.
Nearly 6.900 people illegally landed on Greece’s eastern Aegean islands last month, Greek authorities announced this week.
