4 Afghans charged with arson for fire at Lesbos refugee camp - Action News
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4 Afghans charged with arson for fire at Lesbos refugee camp

Four Afghan migrants have been charged with arson for alleged involvement in fires that destroyed most of a large refugee camp on the eastern island of Lesbos, Greek authorities said.

12,000 fled as fires swept through the overcrowded camp last week

A woman carries a child past flames after a major fire broke out in the Moria migrants camp on the Greek Aegean island of Lesbos, on Sept. 9. (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images)

Four Afghan migrants have been charged with arson for alleged involvement in fires that destroyed most of a large refugee camp on the eastern island of Lesbos, Greek authorities said.

The men, who have not been named, were led to a court on the island on Wednesday to be formally charged. They were later returned to police detention after being given three days to prepare their testimony.

Migrants sit inside the burnt Moria Camp. Thousands of asylum seekers fled for their lives as the huge fires ripped through the camp . (Anthi Pazianou/AFP/Getty Images)

The fires swept through the overcrowded camp at Moria last week, prompting more than 12,000 migrants and refugees to flee. Nobody was hurt. Most of them remain without shelter, camped on a roadside near the gutted camp.

Two other migrants allegedly involved in setting the fires are underage, and are being held by police on the Greek mainland. They have not been formally charged.

The government maintains that the fires at Moria were set deliberately by migrants protesting confinement after the site was locked down due to an outbreak of COVID-19.

Athens on Tuesday urged the European Union to jointly run new refugee camps on Greece's eastern islands as part of an overhaul of the EU's migration policies.

An asylum-seeker retrieves his belongings from his burnt down tent as fires continue to rage for a second night in the Moria migrant camp. (Byron Smith/Getty Images)