MYTILINI, Greece – Close to 200 refugees and migrants, mostly Afghanis, spent a night at Sappho’s Square after marching on Tuesday to Mytilini, protesting delays in their processing and living conditions at the Moria hotspot.

On Wednesday, the refugees temporarily moved so the Lesvos municipality could wash down the square, but a request for police to prevent them from setting up their tents again failed.

About 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, nearly 400 refugees and migrants, including nationals of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, marched from Moria to the square facing the port, where nearly half spent the night.

The march and protests were fuelled by rumors that an Afghani refugee who could not be treated at Moria due to the inadequate and overcrowded facilities, was transferred to hospital and died there. The hospital administration refuted the rumor, stating that the man has a serious chronic heart condition and is at the intensive care unit of the Mytilini Hospital.

#migrants occupy Mytilini square to protest processing delays #Greecehttps://t.co/CW4rLhOZOI pic.twitter.com/iUahS6Tb6q

— ANA-MPA news (@amna_newseng) April 18, 2018

According to the latest information from the refugees, a large number of Arab refugees and migrants is heading from Moria to join the protesters at the square.

Conditions at Moria continue to be present challenges, as there are now over 6,500 migrants living there, exceeding by far the hotspot’s capacity, while the number of migrants and refugees on Lesvos is close to 9,000.