Europe's migrant crisis came into ugly focus this week on an
idyllic Greek island as reports emerged of thousands of men, women and children
corralled in a stadium for days in blazing heat with little food, water or
shelter.
The small island
of Kos is just one of the places where an unprecedented wave of migrants, many
fleeing war, have landed after making a perilous journey across theMediterranean.
Medical charity
Doctors Without Borders raised the alarm Tuesday after disturbing scenes broke
out in the Kos stadium as riot police, struggling to contain the crowds,
started using fire extinguishers and sonic explosions to disperse them.
Perhaps stung by
international outrage over the situation, Greek ministers are meeting Thursday
in Athens with the EU commissioner for refugees to try to address the growing
crisis.
More than 7,000 migrants arrived on Kos in July, according to
Doctors Without Borders. Tens of thousands more landed elsewhere in Greece in
the same month, stretching the capacity of its cash-strapped government to
cope, the U.N. refugee agency
said.
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.
Migrants faint, fall ill
As about 1,200 migrants lined up in the
stadium to be registered Tuesday, some fainted in the blazing heat, Doctors
Without Borders said.
They had been
ordered to go to the stadium by police who carried out a sweep of parks and
public squares where they'd congregated -- for want of any proper facilities to
house them -- with only three officers deployed to register them, the charity
said. With no shade, toilets or water provided, the situation deteriorated.
Afraid for its
staff's safety, Doctors Without Borders pulled its team out of the stadium late
Tuesday, but staff members have returned since.
Spokeswoman
Julia Kourafa told CNN on Thursday that the police were better organized now,
providing water and sandwiches to the migrants. But she said the stadium has
only six toilets and a couple of water taps and shouldn't be used in this way.
Doctors Without Borders treated 62 people at the stadium
Wednesday, with four being sent to the hospital. Three people were treated as a
result of police violence and seven for severe trauma after crowds crushed
them, she said. Another 33 were treated for heat exhaustion and loss of
consciousness, with children, pregnant women and the elderly the most
vulnerable.
"We've been
calling for months now to provide the proper reception system that will give
humane and decent conditions," Kourafa said.
"Putting
people in a stadium or having them live outside is not a solution to the
problem. These people are refugees and need to be treated as humans."
Greek police: Migrants leaving island for Athens
A Greek police spokeswoman told CNN that
the situation Thursday was calm, with about 1,500 migrants having been taken
the day before to the main port in Athens.
Police at the
stadium worked into the night Wednesday to process almost 2,500 people claiming
to be Syrian refugees and issue documents allowing them to leave the island,
the spokeswoman said.
Registration
efforts are continuing for another 2,500 people, she said. There were about
5,000 people in the stadium, all thought to be Syrian, she said, but she was
unable to confirm exactly how many have left.
Police are also
registering migrants from elsewhere in the main police station on Kos, the
spokeswoman said.
The number arriving in Kos in July was double that in June,
Doctors Without Borders said, "turning a dire situation from bad to
worse." The great majority are refugees fleeing war in Syria and
Afghanistan, the charity said.
Kos Mayor
Yiorgos Kiritsis called Thursday for the European Union to provide emergency
financial aid to Greece to help it handle the influx of migrants, saying,
"Emergency situations require emergency decisions and measures."
In an earlier
statement this week, Kiritsis appealed to the Greek government for help before
there was bloodshed and said the idea that all those arriving could be
immediately identified was a myth.
"There are
7,000 illegal immigrants in Kos, and 600 to 800 are arriving on a daily basis,
so that makes identification impossible," he said.
"In a bid to
deal with the problem, the municipality of Kos tried to move the identification
process to the stadium; it tried to substitute the State, which is absent from
addressing the problem. It has been demonstrated, however, that the problem is
no longer manageable."
Greek government sends ship to Kos
Alekos Flambouraris, Greek minister for
the coordination of government work, said Thursday that a ship with capacity to
house 2,000 to 2,500 people would immediately be sent to Kos to act as a
temporary processing center.
"The ship
will cover basic accommodation needs; identification will take place (on
board), and the difficult situation on the island will be to a large extent
alleviated," he said.
"We believe
that the EU will assume its responsibilities and will help in the fight against
the continuously growing humanitarian crisis."
He said the
government was trying to resolve the issue in accordance with international
law. Authorities are also working to help migrants camping out in Athens, he
said.
Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU commissioner for migration, home
affairs and citizenship, is holding an extraordinary meeting Thursday in Athens
with Greece's ministers for the interior, migration, public order, maritime
affairs and health.
He was also due
to speak Thursday with Kiritsis, the Kos mayor.
Avramopoulos is
expected to give a televised statement Friday in Brussels, Belgium.
Last week, the
EU approved 2.4 billion euros in funding for the migration crisis. Greece will
receive 473 million euros as part of this funding, according to the UNHCR.
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