Tourist playground meets hectic refugee camp on Greek island

[webfact]

Tourist playground meets hectic refugee camp on Greek island
NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press
DALTON BENNETT, Associated Press

KOS, Greece (AP) — On this sunny Greek island accustomed to dealing with nothing more than a summer influx of tourists, authorities are struggling to handle a far different human tide: tens of thousands of migrants arriving in crammed rubber dinghies in hopes of making new lives in Europe.

Overwhelmed police clerks used fire extinguishers and batons on Tuesday to quell the crowds of weary and frustrated boat people fiercely jostling to be registered in Kos' main port, where thousands have been sleeping rough for days waiting for temporary travel documents.

The migrants, mostly refugees from war-torn Syria, make their way across the narrow strait that separates Kos from Turkey in their hundreds every day — desperate men, women and children risking the sometimes fatal crossing in flimsy boats in the hope of gaining asylum in northern Europe.

What they ask of Greece is one piece of paper, which will record their refugee status.

"We just want to leave this island, and they don't understand that," said Laith Saleh, a 30-year-old former plasterer from Aleppo, who fled Syria last month after spending three years fighting Syrian government forces and Islamic State group extremists.

"We can't get on the boat to Athens if we don't have the papers."

Kos, like other Greek islands close to the Turkish seaboard, is ill-equipped to handle the wave of newcomers, its experience with troublesome visitors having previously been limited to drunken tourists. More than 125,000 people have entered this financially broken country by sea since January, a staggering 750 percent increase over the same period last year and more than in the whole of 2014 and 2013 together.

Police data show that nearly 30,000 people have been detained for illegally entering Kos and its smaller outlying islands so far this year — just short of its total population. According to local authorities, at least 5,000 are now trapped on the island due to the registration backlog.

Saleh said he spent nine hours on Monday waiting fruitlessly with several hundred others to be registered in an old football stadium that is now the island's main processing center. "There were four people doing the registration," he said. "Today there is just one."

Police have sent additional staff to help the process — and were also flying in two riot police units to help control the crowds.

As tempers frayed Tuesday, hundreds of refugees and economic migrants briefly blocked the port's main coastal road, demanding quicker registration.

"We want papers! We want to leave!" they chanted.

Similar protests and tension have occurred on several of the islands bearing the brunt of the migrant influx in recent weeks, including Lesbos, where the majority of new arrivals land.

"We tell them that if they want to leave the island, we want it 10 times more," said Theodossis Paraschos, one of a group of local men gathered outside the old stadium advising the migrants to queue in a more orderly way.

"The problem (of migrant arrivals) has increased very, very fast. The solution must come from a central government level — and soon," Paraschos said. "People are starting to act mad. Earlier, a car driver out here tried to run the crowd over. Some people just have no brains."

The challenges for Kos' residents are evident.

Tourism is the island's key industry, and official data show a 7.3 decline in the first seven months of 2015, a toll local businesses blame on the migrant influx.

Lack of planning led to thousands of migrants, including many families, sleeping outdoors or in tents in public parks, along the town's beachfront or in the port's landmark medieval fort. Meanwhile, droves of tourists cycle past, while others fill restaurants and coffee shops.

"Seventy percent of our local economy is based on tourism — a five-and-a-half-month season," said Kos taxi driver Yiannis Kefalianos. "Tourists don't like the sight (of the camped migrants). They feel sorry for them, of course, but they shouldn't be out there in tents in the harbor or the parks."

Kos Mayor Giorgos Kyritsis promised to evict the refugees from public areas, and municipal officials have been doing so since Monday. But there is nowhere the migrants can go while they wait for their papers, other than the sunbaked stadium.

Saleh said that while he was waiting in line at the stadium, his tent and belongings were confiscated by municipal workers. "Now I have no water, no food, I lost my phone. And everything is so expensive here."

Still, he hopes to eventually make his way through the Balkans to the Netherlands, where he said he would feel secure.

"Then I will get my papers and bring my family, my wife and 3-year-old son, who was just 28 days old when I started fighting. There were times when he couldn't remember me I had been away fighting for so long."

Saleh, who has shrapnel scars on his face and leg, was in action in Kobani and Aleppo, where 35 of his 40-strong unit were killed. He eventually entered Turkey and made his way to Bodrum, opposite Kos, from where he made the crossing in four hours, crammed in a rubber boat with dozens of other people.

On his first day in Kos, he was evicted from a supermarket where he tried to buy food.

"Maybe they looked at my face," he said.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-12

[Lissos]

"We just want to leave this island, and they don't understand that,"

Beggars can't (or at least shouldn't 'expect / assume' to be) choosers.

Kos is refuge from the war that they have fled, is it NOT?

Conditions may be naff, but better than near ISIS, are they NOT?

Demanding attitudes towards nations who have at least let boats land, is going to backfire on migrants if this seemingly growing trend we're getting reports of (threats or demands) continues. People may have 'ideals' of what and where their post Syria life will be, and I get that but in the words of Queen, a rant of - "I want it all, I want it all and I want it NOW!!" is the quickest way for sympathy to be slowly undermined into local hostility.

Kos is too expensive? Wait till you get to the Netherlands. Implying a Greek supermarket's policy was racist (learning quickly, I see) won't win favour either. Maybe they've had countless items stolen by migrants who believe everything is 'too expensive'? Yes they are refugees, but some sound like a brand of ones who are attempting to tell hosts how things are going to be.

[Kyri]

SEND THEM BACK ITS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE

[SOTIRIOS]

...they used to have a navy....???

[oneday]

Absolutely agree. They need to count themselves lucky they are not being turned back and at least have the hope of one day living in Europe. It ain't going to happen over night. In the meantime, if they have food and a rock to sleep on they need to be content or at least patient.

[Nobb]

These refugees are nothing more then muslim terrorist trying to get a foot hold in another country.They are bold and will do any thing for there jihad!

[thaibeachlovers]

Greece knows the answer. They only have themselves to blame if they can't handle it.

How long before the Euro elect a government that will tear up the refugee agreement and send these people back to Turkey or wherever they come from? If they were genuine refugees they would stay in Turkey or the first safe country they come to. From their own mouths they are illegal economic migrants.

[Jimlove]

These so called "refugees" will not stop until they reach the Promised Land of Northern Europe, most likely Scandinavia, where they can get their hands on the welfare sytem checks every month and never have to Work another day in their life ... Sweden, Denmark and Norway are first pick on the menu that the traffickers have ....

Send them back asap ... Europe dont need more criminals ...

[GaryAdriaenssens]

Can't agree more with all the mentioned comments. When following the weekly newsreports then it's fair to conclude that the only ones who have some right to claim the asylum & refugee status are Christian Syrians, all the others are dubious cases. Isn't it strange that many are just single young men from muslim countries and the African continent? Hard decisions are inevitable here and please abandon that bloody stupid Schengen and EU debacle, part reason Europe is on the decline and creates so many problems of varied nature. Enough is just enough, it's a hard reality, nothing else. Act now EU governments or newer problems will arise soon and that's not going to benefit the real seekers for a better life over there.

[Lissos]

If they were genuine refugees they would stay in Turkey or the first safe country they come to. From their own mouths they are illegal economic migrants.

I think many of them are both, thaibeachlover. It's a progression.

Initially it is a taste of crumbs (initial asylum and assistance in Turkey, Kos, etc) but then the thought comes - "well, this is tasty. The crumbs came from somewhere. Let's follow the crumb trail back to its source because crumbs come from a hearty loaf, and a loaf is derived from a seemingly plentiful supply of ingredients". What they are infact seeing is a slice of western wealth set aside for foreign aid / disaster relief and they assume that if there are crumbs then the loaf is freely available too.

None of this is unusual thinking, to me. Nor is it malicious by itself. It operates on assumptions derived from Chinese whispers where a half truth becomes a whole different animal. We see refugees in Kos / Calais seemingly perplexed and furious that they are not allowed to just go where they want.

"What is the delay?" they'll bark, demanding that gates / tunnels are opened because - "My brother achmed and his family are in Amsterdam. I am entitled to go there and live there with them". Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the impression I'm getting about the mindset of current migrants whether from Mali, Syria, Afghanistan or elsewhere. On the one hand I fully understand the progression of now that you've successfully made it to point B, why stop there if you can find a better deal at Point K?

For families with distressed war traumatised children in tow, I empathise with the parental instinct to get the best outcome. For single men, less so as it is opportunity driven and I do not buy into the 'Songs of Praise' view that all needy can be welcomed, accommodated, and their expectations met.

[thaibeachlovers]

If they were genuine refugees they would stay in Turkey or the first safe country they come to. From their own mouths they are illegal economic migrants.

I think many of them are both, thaibeachlover. It's a progression.

Initially it is a taste of crumbs (initial asylum and assistance in Turkey, Kos, etc) but then the thought comes - "well, this is tasty. The crumbs came from somewhere. Let's follow the crumb trail back to its source because crumbs come from a hearty loaf, and a loaf is derived from a seemingly plentiful supply of ingredients". What they are infact seeing is a slice of western wealth set aside for foreign aid / disaster relief and they assume that if there are crumbs then the loaf is freely available too.

None of this is unusual thinking, to me. Nor is it malicious by itself. It operates on assumptions derived from Chinese whispers where a half truth becomes a whole different animal. We see refugees in Kos / Calais seemingly perplexed and furious that they are not allowed to just go where they want.

"What is the delay?" they'll bark, demanding that gates / tunnels are opened because - "My brother achmed and his family are in Amsterdam. I am entitled to go there and live there with them". Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the impression I'm getting about the mindset of current migrants whether from Mali, Syria, Afghanistan or elsewhere. On the one hand I fully understand the progression of now that you've successfully made it to point B, why stop there if you can find a better deal at Point K?

For families with distressed war traumatised children in tow, I empathise with the parental instinct to get the best outcome. For single men, less so as it is opportunity driven and I do not buy into the 'Songs of Praise' view that all needy can be welcomed, accommodated, and their expectations met.

Agree with you. However, that demand must surely be driven by the welcome given to so called refugees by Europe. Now they don't even wait for them to get near Europe, but pick them up off the LIbyan coast!

I wonder if all those that want unlimited acceptance of ALL so called refugees have any idea of what would happen if Europe accepted all the millions that would arrive if they did so?

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.