Video footage has been released showing Greek police struggling to maintain order inside a sports stadium in Kos where hundreds of people, including infants, have been waiting for immigration papers.
The migrants had to wait in the scorching heat with no food and little water for the papers allowing them to travel while crowds outside the stadium trying to get access were being pushed back by riot police. According to some migrants police also threw a tear gas canister to disperse a group of about 40 people.
Vangelis Orfanoudakis, co-ordinator for Medecins San Frontieres, criticised the situation inside the stadium, saying authorities were not doing enough to help migrants: Only local solidarity groups are 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.
He added that the clashes between migrants and police were a result of tension and misunderstandings about why people were in the stadium Nobody knows why they are there and how long it is going to take and when it is going to finish.
After police used fire extinguishing spray to disperse people on 11 August, two riot police units were sent to the island from Athens and additional police were drafted in, according to police sources.
