- Title: Crowds of migrants wait to leave Greece's congested Lesbos island
- Date: 2nd September 2019
- Summary: LESBOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 2, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING TO LEAVE SURROUNDING BUSES IN FRONT OF CAMP WHICH WILL TAKE THEM TO PORT TO BOARD BOATS PEOPLE STANDING IN HOT SUN BETWEEN BUSES WAITING EAGERLY TO LEAVE PEOPLE SITTING ON THE STREET IN HOT SUN WAITING TO BOARD BUSES WITH SUITCASES AND BAGS STREWN ON STREET, MAN HOLDING AN UMBRELLA TO SHIELD HIM FROM SUN MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND BETWEEN BAGS OF BELONGINGS UNDER AN UMBRELLA TO SHIELD THEM FROM SUN PEOPLE STANDING IN FRONT OF BUS WAITING TO BOARD AS WORKERS TRY TO SORT THEM OUT WOMAN ROCKING HER BABY AS SHE WAITS TO BOARD VARIOUS OF WORKERS TRYING TO ORGANIZE EMBARKATION OF BUSES AMONG FAMILIES OF MIGRANTS PEOPLE PUTTING BAGS AND SUITCASES INSIDE BUS MAN SITTING INSIDE BUS AS SEEN FROM WINDOW VARIOUS OF AID WORKERS HOLDING EAGER PEOPLE BACK WITH THEIR HANDS WAITING TO BOARD BUS, WOMAN WITH YOUNG GIRL IN HER ARMS IN CROWD, MAN SHOWING DOCUMENT TO AID WORKER, OTHER PEOPLE LOOKING EAGERLY ON LARGE CROWDS OF MIGRANTS SITTING OR STANDING AROUND ENTRANCE TO MORIA CAMP WAITING TO LEAVE POLICE OFFICERS STANDING BEHIND ROPE USED TO REGULATE MOVEMENT OF MIGRANTS TO BUSES PEOPLE CROWDED AROUND BUSES, OTHER VEHICLES TO TAKE THEM TO PORT VARIOUS OF MORIA CAMP AS SEEN FROM ABOVE, MIGRANTS WALKING IN CAMP, HOUSING CONTAINERS IN CAMP
- Embargoed: 16th September 2019 15:08
- Keywords: Greece Lesbos migrants
- Location: LESBOS, GREECE
- City: LESBOS, GREECE
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AUYUERR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of migrants eagerly waited in the hot sun to leave Lesbos island's Moria camp on Monday (September 2) as part of a government initiative to ease serious overcrowding at the facility.
Clutching their children, dragging makeshift bags and suitcases, crowds surrounded buses which would take more than 800 people to port, where they would depart later in the day by ferry for camps and other accommodation in northern Greece. Earlier on Monday over 600 people departed with a first ferry.
The move is part of emergency measures announced by the new government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis - who discussed migration with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week - which will also include tightening border controls and speeding up deportations of rejected asylum-seekers.
Last Thursday saw a sudden surge in arrivals on Lesbos when more than a dozen boats with some 600 migrants came to shore from Turkey, a first in three years. Turkey maintains an agreement with the European Union to cut flows from its borders. About 7,000 people landed on Greece's shores in August, the highest number since the deal was signed.
About 11,000 migrants are on Lesbos, according to aid agencies. The official Moria camp has a capacity of only about 3,000. Many have spilled into makeshift camps outside the government facility.
(Production: Alkis Konstantinidis, Vassilis Triandafyllou, Deborah Kyvrikosaios) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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