Riot police stood by without intervening.
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Part of the reason is the sheer magnitude of the wave of migrants and refugees, which the Greek government has said is too much for such a crisis-ridden country – let alone an island such as Kos – to handle.
A total of 1,000 migrants are being rescued on their way to Italy and Greece each day, he said.
Hundreds could be seen leaving Kos on Saturday on a ferry to Athens.
According to the global Organisation for Migration, 2015 has recorded nearly 200,000 migrants and refugees attempting to enter Europe in small boats and dinghies. Of these, about half have come to the Greek islands, with numbers surging in the summer when calmer weather makes the crossing marginally less risky.
Turkish Coast Guard personnel carry a body bag, with one of migrants that were drowned as they were trying to cross on a boat to the nearby Greek island of Kos, after they were brought to the port of Bodrum, Turkey, Tuesday, August 18, 2015.
The ship, chartered by the Greek government, is to provide accommodation for around 2500 Syrians.
However, as hopes of a swift embarkation faded, the Syrians retreated from the quayside to find shade in the midday heat. The rest of the Syrian migrants sat in a line on the ground throughout the night, waiting to register inside the ship.
Rescuers found one migrant dead and saved 354 on a fishing boat near the southwestern shore of Italy, the coastguard said on Monday. “There are a great number of people”, a coast guard official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official did not know when embarkation would start. “More refugees and migrants arrived in Greece during the month of July – 50,242 – than during the whole of previous year”, William Spindler of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told a Geneva news briefing.
The UN refugee agency’s division for Europe said last week that 124,000 refugees and migrants had landed in Greece since the beginning of the year.
To rival chants of “Afghanistan!”, “Pakistan!” and “Iran!”, fists and stones flew.
New arrivals from other countries will also be allowed on board the boat, which is one of the largest passenger ships in the Mediterranean, featuring 12 decks, “sumptuous lounges”, on-board shops and a casino. Riot police, drafted in earlier this week from the mainland to reinforce local officers on the normally tranquil holiday island, watched from the sidelines. The riot police beat back the crowd with batons during the brief affray.
Last week, violence broke out at a football stadium where people had been queuing in the sun, with no food or water, to get their immigration papers.
When they reach Kos, the migrants often wade ashore past tourists lying in the Sunday. Despite the dire situation, those who arrive are optimistic.
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She and her family are planning to go to Athens and then northern Greece, where they plan to embark on a long walk through Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.
