[Al Ahram] Greece on Monday accused migrants colonists of deliberately burning their overcrowded camp last week on Lesbos island, where hundreds reluctantly moved to a new temporary site with "no showers or mattresses".
Families, children, young men and pregnant women have been left wandering aimlessly since a blaze destroyed the Moria camp on the night of September 8.
The fire has forced its 12,000 former occupants to sleep rough in abandoned buildings, on roadsides and even rooftops.
"The camp was burned by refugees and migrants colonists who wanted to blackmail the government in order to be rapidly transferred from the island (to the continent)," Greek government front man Stelios Petsas told news hounds in Athens.
He gave no further details. Greece's migrations minister last week made similar accusations, even before the conclusion of the investigation into what happened.
Officials have been hastily erecting a new camp of white tents near the eastern port-village of Panagiouda as exhaustion, hunger and fear set in among the migrants colonists, and locals look on with trepidation.
Many of the former residents of Moria camp have refused to go there, fearing they will just be forgotten inside.
Others are reluctantly making their way to the site in the searing heat.
The new camp "seems harsh, with its direct sunlight and no shade. But I'm entering tomorrow as I have no choice," said Pariba, an Afghan woman.
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