Four people have been arrested on the Greek island of Lesbos after violence broke out during a protest against plans to build a new migrant camp, authorities said on Tuesday.
After a peaceful march to the site in heavy rain on Monday, a small group of protesters set fire to earth-moving machinery being used by a contractor who has started work on the €87.5 million ($99.9m) project.
The four suspects face charges including arson, property destruction and attempted grievous bodily harm, police said on Tuesday. Six more people claimed to have taken part in the violence have been identified.
The site at Plati, 30 kilometres north of the island’s capital, Mytilene, is due to be completed by September and will house up to 3,000 migrants and asylum seekers.
Lesbos was the busiest entry point into the EU in 2015 to 2016 when hundreds of thousands of refugees from wars in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere crossed from Turkey.
An acutely overcrowded refugee camp at Moria, further south on the island, was destroyed in 2020 by a fire that Greek authorities say was lit intentionally by camp residents, and was replaced with a temporary centre.
The EU is funding new camps being built on five Greek islands that face the Turkish coast. Freedom of movement is restricted at the new sites, drawing criticism from human rights groups.
Local authorities on Lesbos are backing the protests and have threatened to challenge the national Greek government in court to try to halt the project.
Greece has long been the main entry point into the EU for migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Hundreds of thousands of people arrived on Lesbos's beaches after crossing on boats from Turkey.
The fate of the migrants is a controversial issue in Greece and another source of tension with Turkey.
