By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS

Protests broke out at the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos during Tuesday’s visit of Greek Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas and his Dutch counterpart Klass Dijkhoff.

Shouting “Freedom, freedom,” angry refugees threw rocks, metal objects, and plastic water bottles during the officials’ visit to the closed Greek detention camp.

According to Greek daily Protothema, the situation escalated when around 400 refugees and migrants were told that their asylum applications had been rejected. Conditions at the camp were also said to be a trigger.

The violence is reported to have started with underage refugees who set garbage bins on fire.

Riot police used teargas to control the situation while the staff working inside the camp had to evacuate.

The situation at Moria camp has been unstable for several days, especially after the much-criticized EU-Turkey deal which foresees the return of migrants and refuges back to Turkey, in an attempt to control the huge inflows of refugees into Europe.