Riot police sent to Kos to deal with migrant chaos
Greek authorities have dispatched riot squads to the popular holiday island of Kos to cope with a huge influx of migrants.
Clashes broke out yesterday when authorities tried to relocate hundreds of migrants to a football stadium for registration.
Police officers used batons and sprayed fire extinguishers as they tried to impose order on the crowds, who were reportedly chanting: “We want papers, we want to eat.”
A group of migrants staged a sit-in, blocking the main coastal road.
Many migrants have been camping alongside roads, in parks and squares and on beaches.
The island’s Mayor warned the situation as getting out of control and warned there was a ‘real danger of bloodshed’.
Around 200 officers have also been sent to the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Leros where large numbers of migrants are also arriving.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, at least 124,000 people have arrived in Greece since the start of the year, nearly all of them refugees from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Greek police say 156,726 migrants have been arrested for entering or remaining in the country illegally from January to July 2015, compared with 32,070 for the same period in 2014.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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