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Lesbos

Protestors clash with riot police during a demonstration against the reinforced measures of the Belgium government to counter the latest spike of the coronavirus in Brussels, Belgium

Europe sees widespread protests against COVID-19 restrictions

Top of The World

Protests against COVID-19 restrictions, some of them turning violent, rocked Europe over the weekend. Also, Sudan’s top military commander reinstates Abdulla Hamdok, but as interim prime minister, until new elections are held. And, two of 17 missionaries kidnapped in October have been released in Haiti.

The Aegean Sea is shown from Lesbos. Increasingly, migrants and advocates claim, Greek authorities are illegally pushing back to Turkey people who are making the journey to Greece in the Aegean Sea. 

‘People are being abandoned in the middle of the sea’: Claims that Greece pushes back migrants to Turkey are rising

Refugees
The new migrant facility on Lesbos will be built next to an active landfill, according to a map published by local media in the fall.

‘This island is a prison’: Migrants say plan for a refugee camp on Lesbos is too isolating

Refugees
A migrant stands outside his tent at Karatepe refugee camp, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, March 29, 2021. The European Union's home affairs commissioner is visiting asylum-seeker facilities on the eastern Greek islands of Samos and

Activists protest migrant facility plan in Greece: ‘Greek islands will not be turned to prisons’ 

Refugees
Since the fire that engulfed Moria camp on Lesbos island nearly two weeks ago, more than 500 of the 12,000 displaced migrants and refugees have been taking shelter at a center run by Team Humanity, a nonprofit humanitarian organization. 

Migrants displaced by Lesbos fire say conditions at new camp are inhumane

Refugees
Several people are show running from a large fire engulfing several structures behind them.

Devastating fire destroys Moria refugee camp; AstraZeneca vaccine trial paused; Thwaites Glacier seafloor survey identifies possible vulnerability

Top of The World

A massive fire burned overnight destroying much of Greece’s largest refugee camp amid the coronavirus. And a joint coronavirus vaccine effort by pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca and Oxford University hit a bump in the road as late-stage studies were put on hold. Also, scientists appear to have identified a major vulnerability in Thwaites Glacier.

Asylum-seekers' clothes hang to dry near a makeshift camp for refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos.

This Syrian is stuck at a makeshift border camp in Greece

Refugees

Ali, an 18-year-old from Syria, arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced he would open the border to Europe. Now, he is stuck in a makeshift camp.

A riot police officer hits a migrant with his baton as police tries to disperse a group of migrants outside the port of Mytilene, Greece, March 3, 2020.

Opposition to expanding refugee camps in Greece takes new turn

Refugees

The Greek government is working to expand refugee camps, but many Greek residents oppose such a move and violence has escalated this week.

A group of children sit in on carpet inside room surrounded by blue tarp

This school at a refugee camp in Lesbos is a safe haven for children 

Education

Journalist Zekria Farzad, a refugee from Afghanistan, established a school for children after his shock at the lack of learning opportunities at Moria Camp, the largest refugee camp in Europe.

A tattered boat on the sea under stormy skies.

Greece’s refugee crisis creates a strain on an already fragile ecosystem

Environment

Nearly 1 million refugees and migrants have passed through Greece since the Syrian war began, leaving its environment and economy under duress — particularly during summers when tourism is in full swing.