More migrants arrived to the Greek island of Kos in the early hours of Thursday (13 August), as Greece bolstered security at the holiday island struggling to cope with an influx of refugees.
A small dingy packed with women and children arrived as the sun rose over Kos on Thursday, two days after frustrated migrants scuffled with police and the government pledged to ease the plight of the hundreds arriving daily on its shores.
We are all graduated from universities – they are doctors, graduated from economy, medicine. We are all students and graduates, but there is nothing now Aleppo. There is just war, just bombs. We left Aleppo to live our life, Firas, a young migrant from Syria, said as she arrived.
Children were so tough. No water, no food. They were all tired and there was screaming all the time. Six hours screaming, said Arras, another Syrian migrant.
Greek minister of state Alekos Flabouraris said a ship with a capacity for at least 2,500 people would be dispatched to the island of Kos, which has seen a spike in refugees in recent weeks. 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 12 August. On Tuesday, skirmishes erupted at a makeshift reception centre at a sports stadium during which police used fire extinguishing spray to disperse people. Hundreds of people, including infants, were still penned in under scorching temperatures at the sports stadium on Wednesday, waiting for papers that would allow them to travel.
While most arrivals to the island are not documented, a coastguard spokeswoman said on Wednesday more than 200 migrants were rescued in the past 24 hours.
