Some migrants who left the squalid tent city near Greece’s border with Macedonia on Tuesday (May 24) during the first major evacuation of the makeshift camp refused to stay in the new camps they were taken to by authorities.
At the Oreokastro camp near the city of Thessaloniki, migrants already living there shouted at new arrivals not to get off the buses because of conditions there, a Reuters witness said. One bus eventually left with the migrants still inside while others took their belongings and left on foot to find a better place to stay.
Migrants at the Oreokastro facility claimed that there was no running water for days or medical staff at the site, where journalists were not permitted to enter.
“The situation there is really bad, very bad.. They said they would move (us) from Idomeni to a camp, 1,000 people, but now we’re 1,600. We cant sleep comfortably, there’s no water, no bathrooms, the bathrooms are very dirty, there’s no hygiene, there are no doctors or medical help.. Even the very basic necessities are not available.. And still more people are arriving.. More people will live in our camp, how will these people drink water or shower? How will they stay clean,” said Abdul Aziz, who has been staying at Oreokastro with his wife and two children for twelve days, after three months in Idomeni.
Several busloads of people, most of them families with children, left the sprawling expanse of tents at Idomeni to move to state-run centres further south.
The Greek government plans to move people gradually to state-supervised facilities which currently have a capacity of about 5,000. About 1,500 people had been relocated by late afternoon, police said.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016
