Lesbos refugee center burns amid migrant tensions
A good fire has ripped through a refugee shelter on the Greek island of Lesbos as tensions over a surge in migration from Turkey continue to rise.
Flames engulfed the main one Happy Family centre, nearby the island's capital Mitilini, on Saturday.
It is not clear how the fire started. No causalities have been reported.
In recent days, there's been hostility towards migrants on Lesbos after a rise in arrivals from Turkey.
Hundreds of migrants have attemptedto reach the island since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the other day he was "beginning the doorways" for refugees to enter European countries.
But on Saturday, Mr Erdogan partially reversed his location. He ordered the Turkish coastguard to avoid migrants from crossing the Aegean Sea to Greece because it is unsafe to take action.
The EU has accused Mr Erdogan of using migrants for political purposes. It insists its doors are "closed".
Meanwhile, clashes have again erupted at the property border around Greece and Turkey.
There has been no switch in Turkey's position in regards to to letting migrants make an effort to enter Greece via this route.
On Saturday, Greek police fired tear gas at crowds at the border crossing at Kastanies, who responded by throwing stones and shouting "open up the gates", in line with the AFP news agency.
The Greek authorities also accused Turkish police of firing tear gas at its police.
Previously Saturday, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi announced fresh constraints on asylum seekers made to stem the movement of migration from Turkey.
"Accommodation and rewards for all those granted asylum might be interrupted within a month. From after that on, they have to do the job for a full time income," the minister said.
"This makes our region a less attractive destination for migration flows."
What's the background?
In 2016, a deal was reached whereby Turkey would stop allowing migrants to attain the EU in substitution for funds from the bloc to greatly help it manage the huge amounts of refugees it hosts.
But since that time, tensions between your EU and Turkey have flared on various issues. In recent weeks, a fierce onslaught by Syrian forces and their Russian backers on Idlib, the previous province held by Syrian rebels, offers resulted in clashes with Turkey, which works with some rebel groups.
Turkey already hosts some 3.7m Syrians however the conflict in Idlib has resulted in nearly a million more fleeing to its southern border.
Although the EU promised billions even more euros in aid, Turkey was unimpressed and the other day made a decision to open its borders with Greece and also bussed migrants near the north-western border.
Greece said that the migrants were getting "manipulated seeing as pawns" by Turkey so that they can exert diplomatic pressure.
It has halted for per month all asylum promises from migrants who enter Greece illegally, and taken aggressive steps to deter them from entering via both territory and sea.
In a 24-hour period to Saturday morning hours, more than 1,200 migrants attemptedto cross the land border, the majority of from Afghanistan and Pakistan, an official source told Reuters news agency.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has told refugees to "avoid moving to a closed door".
The BBC has encountered members of self-styled militias who carry out night-time armed patrols in Greek border towns seeking for migrants.
"There happen to be such militia along the entire area," said Yannis Laskarakis, a good newspaper publisher found in the city of Alexandroupoli who possesses received loss of life threats for speaking away against armed vigilantes.
"We have seen them with this own eyes, arresting migrants, treating them badly and if someone dares to help them, he gets the same fate."
