[Published: Wednesday January 22 2020]
Islanders strike over Greece migrant camps
LESBOS, Greece 22 Jan (ANA) - Strikes and protests are being held on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios over the government's handling of migrants arriving from Turkey.
Migrant numbers are rising, and conditions at the overcrowded camps on the islands are dismal.
At Moria, the largest camp on the island of Lesbos, there are more than 19,000 asylum seekers living at a facility with a capacity for 2,840.
Banners on the Lesbos municipal theatre proclaim: "We want our islands back".
Another reads: "No more prisons for human souls in the North Aegean."
Shops, pharmacies and petrol stations say they will be closed, along with some clinics and lawyers offices. Taxi and bus drivers say they will join the strike.
By midday (10:00 GMT) about 3,000 protesters had gathered in Mytilene, Lesbos's capital, while another 1,500 demonstrators were in the centre of Samos town.
A banner on a council office building on the island of Lesbos reads: "No more prisons for human souls in the North Aegean."
Many locals here feel abandoned. On the island of Samos, Giorgos, a bartender who works in the tourist trade, told the BBC he was angry with the government.
"Here it's like a prison," he said. "The migrants aren't allowed to leave the island. They aren't free to go where they like."
In Samos town, the refugee camp is in the olive groves on a hill just a few minutes' walk from the town centre.
It is common to see migrants hanging around on benches at the seafront.(ANA)
FA/ANA/22 January 2020-----
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