With over 73,000 hectares burnt in six days, the fires around Alexandroupolis, a town on the border with Turkey in north-eastern Greece, are now the most devastating ever recorded in the European Union. Over the past two days, grief over the desolate landscape has given way to rage and even hatred towards a convenient scapegoat: migrants, who have been blamed for the fires by far-right groups operating in the region.

Read more Article réservé à nos abonnés Deadly new fires are ravaging Greece

On Tuesday, August 23, 18 suspected migrants – including two children, according to the coroner – who had crossed the Evros river separating Greece and Turkey, were found dead

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