Greek police fired teargas to disperse a group of migrants protesting on the island of Lesbos on Saturday, four days after fires burnt the overflowing Moria refugee camp to the ground and left them homeless.
The tension broke out as hundreds of migrants chanting "Freedom" marched on a road that leads into the port of Mytilene, which police had blocked as a new temporary tent settlement was being set up nearby.
Some carried handwritten signs carrying messages including "We don't want to go to a hell like Moria again" and "Can you hear us Mrs Merkel?" in an appeal to the German chancellor.
The confrontation was shortlived.
More than 12,000 people, most from Africa and Afghanistan, have been sleeping rough since flames swept through the notoriously overcrowded Moria camp earlier this week. Some residents had COVID-19, raising fears the outbreak could spread.
The fire at the camp, which was holding four times the number of people it was supposed to, has returned the spotlight to the migration crisis facing the European Union, which has struggled to find a response that goes beyond temporary fixes.
Greek authorities have refused any mass transfer off the island, located a few miles off the Turkish coast, despite growing hostility from local residents angry after years of bearing the brunt of the crisis.
But officials said they were determined to provide shelter and proper sanitation and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
