Mytilene turns from tourist Magaluf to refugee …Mecca (photos + videos)

Author: newsroom  | Published: June 16, 2015

One east Aegean island turning into open refugee camp for Mideast, central Asia nationals, with daily refugee problems punctuated by brawls, disrespect of local customs and general rowdy behavior

Hundreds of refugees from Syria and Iraq protested on Mytilene (Lesbos) on Monday demanding better living conditions, faster processing of their registration papers and separate housing from Afghans, following a brawl at one of the island’s camps, leaving three injured. The situation at the island is extremely tense as it bears the brunt of a huge influx of refugees crossing from the Middle East, Asia and Africa — all from the Turkish coast.

Syrian migrants who have been stranded for days in the northeastern Greek island of Lesvos, hold a banner that reads:

The refugees who entered the country illegally are … complaining about the problems with facilities. They refer to instances of fighting between themselves on a daily basis, causing problems to their women and children.

The Greek coast guard picked up 901 people between Friday and Monday in 27 separate incidents at sea. These numbers are indicative of a greater problem with a severe backlog of registration papers to process, so that real refugees can be given renewable papers to allow temporary residence in Greece.

Salim, a ten month-old baby from Syria, sleeps among Syrian migrants, who have been stranded for days, in the northeastern Greek island of Lesvos, wait for travel documents from Greek authorities at the port of Mytilini on Monday, June 15, 2015. An emergency European Union plan to help Italy and Greece manage thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean could be vastly watered down on Tuesday, according EU diplomats. During the first five months of 2015, 40,297 migrants arrived in Greece, up from 6,500 in the same period in 2014. Almost all of them have crossed in boats from Turkey. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Indicative problems felt by residents on Lesbos on a daily basis:

* A group of illegal migrants on Molyvos, Lesbos, used churches as toilets and then smeared their feces on frescoes, according to a journalist filming the situation for SKAI. The migrants were then taken to a police station on the island.

LESBOS

* After endangering their lives just to get to EU member Greece, some of the Third World men folks’ survival instincts apparently gave way to more carnal desires, with many heading to a seedy local brothel. The brothel owner, who doubles as the sole sex worker, could not cope with the huge demand and went so far as to seek police intervention to get rid of the angry Middle Eastern and South Asian “johns”.

* Some would-be asylum seekers empty trash onto the street and use the municipal garbage cans to transport their wares and children.