Yesterday, TV images showed hundreds of migrants jostling with one another as they ran from huge clouds of thick white powder set off from fire extinguishers wielded by police officers who were apparently trying to disperse the crowd.
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“We will try again every day to reach Greece”.
Altogether, some 124,000 refugees and migrants had arrived in Greece by sea this year as of the end of July, according to the UNHCR – a “staggering” 750% increase over the same period in 2014. Inside the stadium, Julia Kourafa accounts describes the protests that pursued as a result of the migrants’ mistreatment by the Greek police.
For the past two days, police have been evicting migrants from public areas on Kos to the open soccer stadium to conduct interviews, where migrants wait to potentially be issued documents allowing them to remain in Greece for up to six months. There are not enough water or toilets.
Afraid for its staff’s safety, Doctors Without Borders pulled its team out of the stadium late Tuesday, but staff members have returned since.
However, the party-goers photographed heading out for a night of dancing is a world away from the chaotic scenes of young families being moved around by Greek authorities using tear gas. The aid agency said it had treated 30 people for heat exhaustion and crush injuries.
“The solution must come from a central government level – and soon”, Paraschos said. “We don’t want to stay in Greece and we understand the economic situation here… but we don’t feel respected”. “And if you extend this to the whole country, you realize that Greece can’t afford to provide nutrition to all these people”. “It’s too bad”, Syrian refugee Laith Saleh, who is in the stadium, said by phone Wednesday.
Registration efforts are continuing for another 2,500 people, she said.
A Greek police official told Reuters that authorities were planning to position riot police squads to Kos and neighboring islands of Rhodes and Syros amid the mounting number of asylum seekers in the European country. Aggravated, and presumably desperately disappointed that Europe isn’t the land of milk and honey they had been promised back home in warzone nations like Syria and Iraq, the illegals have grown restless, and what police there are have been involved in clashes while attempting to keep order.
“The situation on the island is out of control”, warned Kos mayor Giorgos Kiritsis.
The problem is not limited to Kos.
The cruise liner would be converted into a reception centre to process arrivals and would dock in the main port of the island, the minister said.
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Extra police are being dispatched from Athens and nearby regions to help out.
