EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-KOS STADIUM Police filter migrants trying to enter Kos stadium to obtain immigration papers
Record ID:
144151
EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-KOS STADIUM Police filter migrants trying to enter Kos stadium to obtain immigration papers
- Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-KOS STADIUM Police filter migrants trying to enter Kos stadium to obtain immigration papers
- Date: 13th August 2015
- Summary: KOS, GREECE (AUGUST 13, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS QUEUING OUTSIDE SPORTS STADIUM MIGRANT SHOWING HER SYRIAN PASSPORT POLICE WITH SHIELDS BLOCKING MIGRANTS POLICE LETTING MIGRANT ENTER STADIUM AS HE SHOWS PIECE OF PAPER AT ENTRANCE POLICE JOSTLING WITH MIGRANTS MIGRANTS CROWDED OUTSIDE STADIUM / POLICE BLOCKING ENTRANCE POLICE BLOCKING MIGRANTS POLICE LETTING MIGRANT THROUGH / OTHER MIGRANTS CROWDING ENTRANCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRAQI MIGRANT, MARWAN, SAYING: "Many people here for 15 days, wait here and they aren't doing anything. And you see, how many degrees hot now. And see, this man, where is the old man, see, see this old man, he cannot do anything, see (POINTS TO SWEAT-SOAKED SHIRT OF ELDERLY MAN) and also everybody here sick. We need... we need..." MIGRANTS QUEUING OUTSIDE STADIUM MIGRANT WITH BABY UNHCR (UNITED NATIONS REFUGEE AGENCY) LOGO ON VEST (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNHCR REPRESENTATIVE, ERASMIA ROUMANA, SAYING: "First of all it is the responsibility of the national authorities to have this in an organised manner and to deal with the issue of refugees, because this will continue. And when it comes to Kos, yes, our message is that all this would have been avoided, for the refugees, for the local inhabitants, for the tourists, that they experience this situation which is difficult for everyone, even for the police officers, all this would have been avoided if there was a facility where all these procedures take place there." VARIOUS OF LOCAL BAKER DISTRIBUTING BREAD TO MIGRANTS TENTS AND MIGRANTS MIGRANTS ON THE BEACH (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNHCR REPRESENTATIVE, ERASMIA ROUMANA, SAYING: "Yesterday as you saw, they had decided to put people in the football court which resulted in some incidents of people fainting because of the sun and waiting under the sun the whole day. Today I think they take the people gradually, but we will see, we are here also to monitor the procedures and to identify what can be improved." MIGRANTS NEXT TO TENTS SET UP ON BEACH TENTS ON BEACH
- Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Greece
- Country: Greece
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA38XO8GUT4IK8NOHMPLZ2Z73DO
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Police filtered the flow of migrants trying to enter a sports stadium in Kos hoping to obtain immigration papers on Thursday (August 13), giving priority to those with Syrian nationality documents.
Hundreds of people, including infants, queued under scorching temperatures at the stadium, a makeshift reception centre, waiting for papers that would allow them to travel on.
They crowded outside the stadium as police blocked them with riot shields, sometimes struggling with those gathered at the entrance as they let them pass only one at a time through the gate of the compound.
Migrants complained that the registration process was too slow and that there was no protection from the heat.
"Many people here for 15 days, wait here and they aren't doing anything. And you see, how many degrees hot now," said Iraqi migrant Marwan.
"See this old man, he cannot do anything, see, and also everybody here sick," he said, pointing to an elderly man in a sweat-soaked shirt.
Cash-starved Greece has found itself in the spotlight in recent months as Europe grapples with a stream of refugees fleeing war and poverty. Tens of thousands have crossed into Greece from Turkey along its long island coastline.
Dozens of tents lined a beachfront promenade leading from Kos's main port.
Conditions faced by migrants arriving at the island have been criticised by aid groups, who say there is no food, little water and sparse shelter available to the hundreds that have arrived on the shores of the Greek island.
A representative of the U.N. refugee agency said there needed to be better organisation of the registration process by authorities.
"When it comes to Kos, yes, our message is that all this would have been avoided, for the refugees, for the local inhabitants, for the tourists, that they experience this situation which is difficult for everyone, even for the police officers, all this would have been avoided if there was a facility where all these procedures take place there," Erasmia Romana said.
Skirmishes erupted between migrants and Greek police on Tuesday and Wednesday as tensions built at the stadium.
"Yesterday as you saw, they had decided to put people in the football court which resulted in some incidents of people fainting because of the sun and waiting under the sun all day. Today I think they take the people gradually, but we will see, we are here also to monitor the procedures and to identify what can be improved," Romana said.
A coastguard spokeswoman said on Tuesday, more than 200 migrants had been rescued in the past 24 hours on the island. Most arrivals are undocumented. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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