European Diary, 16.10.2020: Did something happen? Austria provided “help on the spot” and dumped 55 tons of stuff somewhere on the Greek mainland. That’s it for the federal government of Austria for the time being.
The Greek government has also dumped a smaller part of the refugees from Lesbos somewhere on the mainland, apparently especially those who, as recognized refugees, had the right to do so anyway, a right that they have been denied without any justification so far.
The rest, according to Caritas about 7800 people (40% of them children), are accommodated in a temporary camp, under conditions that are even worse than before. The new camp by the sea is not connected to the local water supply. So there are only chemical toilets, which will probably soon give up. There are no showers, the inhabitants wash themselves in the sea. And they live in tents that are neither wind, water nor winterproof, some of them without floors. Tents that, as the Austrian newspaper Courier reported today, fell down like houses of cards in the massive rainfalls of the last few days. Meanwhile the camp is drowning in water and thus in mud.
Now the winter begins on Lesbos, and it is quite cold, and wet, and windy there, too. And that is exactly what it is supposed to be, obviously. Klaus Schwertner of the Caritas in Vienna looked at the situation on the spot and has the impression that “deterrence is still being worked on”.
And that will probably claim victims in winter. Until then, one leaves it to organizations like Caritas to prevent the worst. After all, the streets on which the homeless refugees slept in the weeks after the fire are now open to traffic again.
The criminals who are to blame for this will probably not have to stand trial for deprivation of liberty, assault and coercion any time soon. Who will dare to take them to court?