Illegals resort to costly fires to raise their standard of accommodation

Thousands of migrants had been living in a tent city called Kara Tepe (also known as Mavrovouni) on the island of Lesbos after the notorious Moria camp burned down.

After the September 2020 arson attacks destroyed the Moria camp, Kara Tepe became the main camp on Lesbos for migrants and asylum seekers. The Greek government has since approved the construction of a new closed reception centre at Vastria (near the village of Nees Kydonies) to be completed by late 2021.

On Tuesday, a fire broke out at Kara Tepe which required intervention by the fire service to put out. While authorities claim an electrical short circuit may have sparked the blaze, speculation is once again rife that the migrants may have set the blaze with the help of some NGOs. German photographer Rebecca Somer was in Moria when the migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos went up in flames. She saw how German anti-facist NGOs were allegedly co-responsible for the arson.

Fires at asylum centres has become a common tactic used to force relocation. On the same day as the Kara Tepe fire, two migrants from Afghanistan were sentenced to five years in prison for torching the massive Moria camp where some 20 000 migrants had been living at the time. Four other migrants are expected to stand trial for the same reason.

Migrants have been suspected or charged in recent fires at other asylum camps in Greece, Bosnia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Several fires were set at the Reception and Identification Center for Asylum Seekers (KYT) on Samos in September last year, according to a report from EfSyn. Three foreign minors were charged with arson which caused “significant damage to the premises,” police said.

When migrants set their camp on fire near the Bosnian town of Bihac on 23 December 2020, leaving a thousand of them homeless, the European Union (EU) announced that it would increase its humanitarian assistance by 3,5 million euros, calling migrant living conditions “unacceptable”. And it called for rebuilding the torched Lipa camp.

In February, a dozen suspects were arrested by British law enforcement after a fire at a migrant camp in Kent. Napier Barracks, a former military facility, has been used to house hundreds of illegal “boat migrants” crossing the Channel from France.

Protests over living conditions and an outbreak of Covid-19, resulted in migrants who “became aggressive, turned violent and began to set about destroying the barracks,” sources told the Daily Mail. Staffers were barricaded in a room as migrants smashed windows, damaged property, and set fires.

Aslyum Seekers at #NapierBarracks say that they have been informed there will be NO more transfers. They have lost hope, they can’t live in prison like conditions they are fighting for their lives now. #ShutNapier pic.twitter.com/9JwYdrMbfR

— Shadia Edwards-Dashti (@ShadiaED) January 29, 2021

This month, illegals were suspected of torching their camp in Melilla, on Spanish territory.

Multiple shelters were destroyed in a blaze at the Rostrogordo Provisional Reception Center for Minors. Firemen have established that the blaze had been started with the help of accelerants, as flammable fluids were found to have been deployed on the structures, which were reportedly fireproof.

“Two wooden cabins were set alight and it was only thanks to the rapid intervention of the firefighters, who arrived on the scene within minutes, that the forest didn’t go up in flames,” EuroWeekly News reported. “Even though the camp currently houses around 200 minors, the cabins, which are used as bedrooms, were empty at the time and no casualties have been reported.”

Instead of denouncing the arson, Mohamed Ahmed, Melilla’s Councilor for Youth, Minors and Family, praised camp residents for “immediately” calling the fire brigade. While Spanish taxpayers have suffered a drop of 12 percent in GDP in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, they will be paying for new housing for migrants.

A camp of army tents has been erected in Melilla to accommodate the never-ending deluge of immigrants, which one Spanish newspaper has dubbed the “Black March”.

Anoche se produjo un grave incidente en el Fuerte de Rostrogordo: un incendio que podría haber cobrado vidas y que se une a otras irregularidades. Están imputados por la gestión de ese centro el presidente de la C.A.M y dos consejeros. El PP lo denunciará a la Fiscalía de Menores pic.twitter.com/BubqmRFj8p

— PP de Melilla (@PPMelilla) February 28, 2021