For almost two weeks, some 120 Yazidis have been sleeping in the street after they have been refused entry to the Serres refugee camp in the north of Greece.
ADVERTISEMENTFor almost two weeks, some 120 Yazidis have been sleeping in the street after having refused entrance to the Serres refugee camp in the north of Greece, which houses hundreds of their compatriots.
"We have been sleeping on the ground for 12 days," says Fahad, 22, sitting outside the camp.
"Every day, we implore being allowed to enter the camp. No one helps us. We are afraid and we are nowhere to go."
The camp houses most of the Yazidi community in Greece but is no longer welcoming any extra refugees, citing capacity problems. Greek officials say they're only admitting women and children.
"The camp no longer has place," a Greek source told AFP said, under the guise of anonymity.
"There are around 60 beds that will be made available to women or children if necessary. But most of those who sleep outside are young men."
The Yazidis belong to a Kurdish-speaking minority. In 2014, thousands fled killings by the so-called Islamic State in the Sinjar mountains, northern Iraq.
A special UN investigation team announced in May 2021 that it had collected the "clear and convincing proof" that a genocide was committed by the jihadists against the Yazidis.