EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-KOS SCUFFLES-MSF Migrants scuffle with police on Kos amid crisis

Record ID: 144194

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-KOS SCUFFLES-MSF Migrants scuffle with police on Kos amid crisis
  • Date: 12th August 2015
  • Summary: KOS, GREECE (AUGUST 12, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRUCK CARRYING WATER BOTTLES ENTERING STADIUM GROUNDS POLICE AND MAN PUSHING PEOPLE AWAY FROM GATES MIGRANTS AND POLICE CROWDING NEAR ENTRANCE TO BUILDING POLICE PUSHING BACK PEOPLE WITH SHIELDS CROWDS WAITING / POLICE IN PROTECTIVE GEAR WOMAN HOLDING DOCUMENTS MIGRANTS PUSHING AGAINST ENTRANCE TO BUILDING POLICE PUSHING BACK PEOPLE CROWDS CRAMMED TOGETHER / POLICE PUSHING PEOPLE INTO QUEUE POLICE PUSHING AND SHOVING CROWDS BACK BEHIND GATE / PEOPLE PROTESTING / POLICE SHUT GATE MIGRANTS HELP MAN WASH HIS EYES AFTER TEAR GAS WAS REPORTEDLY DEPLOYED BY POLICE YOUNG MAN WIPING HIS EYES, ANOTHER MAN RUNNING TOWARD GATE WHERE POLICE ARE AND THROWING ITEM POLICE STANDING WITH SHIELDS BEHIND GATE MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES SITTING OUTSIDE NEAR STADIUM GROUNDS PERSON WEARING BIB OF MEDICAL AID GROUP MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR FOR MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES, VANGELIS ORFANOUDAKIS, SAYING: "We expect more responsibility both from the local, but also from the central authorities, to put some kind of system in place that can guarantee that these people are able to receive food, basic healthcare, sheltering, water and protection of their basic human rights. Something is not the case here, we just want these people start being treated as humans." MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES LOGO (SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR FOR MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES, VANGELIS ORFANOUDAKIS, SAYING: "Until today, one day after (scuffles) still there is no food there (stadium). Only local solidarity groups giving biscuits and milk for the babies. It is Medecins Sans Frontieres who are doing medical assistance inside and we are also mostly treating patients that have fainted, because of the horrible situation that is inside there. There is a lot of tension, a lot of waiting and a lot of misunderstanding of why the people who are there. Nobody knows why they are there and how long it is going to take and when it is going to finish." MIGRANTS RESTING UNDER SHADE OF TREE
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4I2ZO9IFVCDGMWJNNBTZ6M1UN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Skirmishes erupted between migrants and Greek police on the island of Kos on Wednesday (August 12) for a second consecutive day, as tensions built at a sports stadium where hundreds of people, including infants, have been waiting for immigration papers.
    Migrants remained penned in under scorching temperatures at the sports stadium on Wednesday, in the hope of having local authorities process their papers allowing them to travel.
    Riot police struggled to contain crowds trying to gain access to the stadium, which is being used as a makeshift reception centre, with migrants protesting and scuffling with police outside one of two closed gates of the compound.
    According to some migrants police threw a tear gas canister to disperse the group of about 40 people as well as pushing refugees to keep them in a tightly packed queue outside a processing office.
    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. Vangelis Orfanoudakis of Medecins San Frontieres said authorities weren't doing enough to help the migrants.
    "We expect more responsibility both from the local, but also from the central authorities, to put some kind of system in place that can guarantee that these people are able to receive food, basic healthcare, sheltering, water and protection of their basic human rights. Something is not the case here, we just want these people start being treated as humans," he said.
    "Until today, one day after (scuffles) still there is no food there (stadium). Only local solidarity groups giving biscuits and milk for the babies. It is Medecins Sans Frontieres who are doing medical assistance inside and we are also mostly treating patients that have fainted, because of the horrible situation that is inside there. There is a lot of tension, a lot of waiting and a lot of misunderstanding of why the people who are there. Nobody knows why they are there and how long it is going to take and when it is going to finish," he added.
    Greece on Wednesday bolstered security at the holiday island struggling to cope with an influx of refugees and pledged to ease the plight of the hundreds arriving daily on its shores.
    Greek Minister of State Alekos Flabouraris said a ship with a capacity for at least 2,500 people would be dispatched 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.
    Two riot police units were dispatched to Kos from Athens and police reinforcements from nearby islands were also drafted in, police sources said.
    On Tuesday (August 11), skirmishes erupted at the sports stadium during which police used fire extinguishing spray to disperse people.
    Flabouraris said the Greek government was going to do as much as possible to ease the problems facing Kos due to the refugee crisis.
    Cash-starved Greece, mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, 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.
    A coastguard spokeswoman said more than 200 migrants had been rescued in the past 24 hours on the island. Most arrivals are undocumented.
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