Spyros Galinos

Residents on the Greek island of Lesvos went on strike on Monday to protest against European policies they say have turned it into a "prison" for migrants and refugees.

Islanders shut businesses, shops, municipal offices, nurseries and pharmacies and dozens rallied on a central square, calling on the government to transfer asylum-seekers to the mainland.

With reception centers for migrants on the Aegean islands reaching breaking point, local authorities on Lesvos go on strike on Monday to draw attention to the problem.

With reception centers on Lesvos bursting at the seams and dozens more migrants arriving daily, the island's mayor, Spyros Galinos, on Tuesday declared a general strike for Monday in protest.

Currently, some 1,500 people - including hundreds of small children - are stranded on the island living in tents, and fears are growing that winter may bring a new humanitarian crisis.

British news outlet “Guardian” correspondent Helena Smith writes of the growing fury among the residents of the Greek island of Lesbos over the central government’s inability to deal with the ongoing problem of the rising number of refugees and illegal migrants and the overpopulation.

Lesvos Mayor Spyros Galinos chided the government on Tuesday for not living up to its promises to ease crowded conditions at accommodation centers sheltering asylum seekers on eastern Aegean islands, saying nothing has been done.

 Almost 500 refugees and migrants arrived on the shores of Greece's northern Aegean islands this week, taking the number of such arrivals since the beginning of September to nearly 2,800. The majority arrived on Lesvos, Ekathimerini writes.

Lesvos Mayor Spyros Galinos has written to the government and the European Commission asking that immediate action be taken to reduce the number of refugees on the island.

A team from the Apostolic Nunciature of Greece on Thursday visited the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos to assess how a 50,000-euro earthquake relief donation by Pope Francis can be best put to use.

Amid a fresh uptick in migrants reaching Greece's eastern Aegean islands from Turkey and rising tensions on island reception centers, Lesvos Mayor Spyros Galinos on Wednesday sent a letter to several ministers and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, calling for immediate action to ease the pressure on local communities.

The cost of a 6.1-Richter earthquake off the island of Lesvos last week is growing by the day, according to local authorities, as more than 500 buildings have been condemned and hundreds of residents are homeless.