Fires continue to rage in many places in Greece. Rumors are circulating in the country that migrants are to blame for the fires. There is no evidence of this. But right-wing groups are rushing against refugees.
The video is inhuman. It was taken by a pick-up driver in north-east Greece, near the Turkish border. Where the woods have been on fire for almost a week. He walks around his vehicle. A long gray trailer with a door hangs on the back of the car.
“I have 25 pieces here in my trailer,” he says, as if it were cattle. When the door opens, two of the detained migrants are caught. One looks outside in fear. “They will burn us all!” shouts the author of the video. The whole mountain is full. Then he calls for organizing and rounding up all migrants.
In the forests of north-eastern Greece, including in the Dadia National Park, migrants who came to Greece illegally via Turkey are always hiding. The 18 dead found on Tuesday were most likely refugees. It is not known how many were in the forest when the fire broke out on Monday.
No evidence
Contrary to what right-wing groups have claimed, there is no evidence that migrants are to blame for the forest fires. Instead, the authorities assume that lightning strikes are the cause. Greek Government Forest Commissioner Evangelos Goudoufas says: “Regarding Dadia National Park, I want to go back to the conditions under which the fire broke out. I emphasize: it started at a place where it there was no human activity.”
At the time, however, a local TV station reported differently: namely that the police had arrested two migrants for arson. A hoax, as it turns out later – but it’s already out in the world.
The author of the video has been arrested. But right-wing groups use the moment and continue to create atmosphere. Via the short message service Viber, they call on people to go out and “beat everyone up”. The migrants should not be handed over to the police, otherwise they would be released and the work would be for nothing.
Kyriakos Velopoulos sits in parliament with his right-wing Greek Solution party. In the wake of the fires, he is now calling for the formation of militias. Every citizen has the right to defend their home.
Arson plays a role
In Athens, too, anti-minority sentiment is being raised as part of the fires. An industrial area burned west of the city. The mayor of the municipality, Nikos Meletiou, believes he knows who is to blame: “I don’t want to withhold from you what a citizen told me: he observed Roma burning car tires and cables.” There is no evidence.
The truth also belongs: With the more than 200 fires in the past few days, there have always been suspicions of arson – and arrests. A 48-year-old Greek, who had often been noticed as an arsonist, was arrested in a fire on the Halkidiki peninsula.
Arson could also have played a role in the great fire on the western outskirts of Athens. The Minister for Climate and Citizen Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, speaks of nine fire tests on the Parnitha mountain, the green lung of the city. A silver agricultural vehicle is associated with it.
“The fire brigade, the police and the Greek secret service will definitely do everything they can to arrest the arsonists,” says Kikilias. But the crimes are usually difficult to prove. In most cases it remains unclear whether the arsonists wanted to gain building land, were simply careless or were notorious igniters.