ATHENS — (CNN) Greek ministers are meeting Thursday in Athens amid concern over the treatment of migrants on the Greek island of Kos, following reports of thousands being corralled in a stadium for days with little access to food, water or shelter.
More than 7,000 migrants arrived on the small island of Kos in July, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders. They are part of an unprecedented wave of people venturing across the Mediterranean in boats, many of them not seaworthy, to reach European soil.
Greek authorities have struggled to cope with the influx, leading to criticism from many observers.
As some 1,200 men, women and children queued in the stadium to be registered on Tuesday, and some fainted in the blazing heat, Doctors Without Borders said.
The migrants had been ordered to go to the stadium by police who carried out a sweep of parks and public squares where they’d congregated — for want of any proper facilities to house them — with only three officers deployed to register them, it said. With no shade, toilets or water provided, the situation deteriorated.
Riot police, struggling to contain the crowds, started using fire extinguishers and sonic explosions to disperse them, the charity said.
Doctors Without Borders pulled its staff out of the stadium late Tuesday because of safety concerns, but they have returned since.
Spokeswoman Julia Kourasa told CNN Thursday that the police were better organized now, providing water and sandwiches to the migrants. But, she said, the stadium has only six toilets and a couple of water taps and shouldn’t be used in this way.
Doctors Without Borders treated 62 people at the stadium on Wednesday, of whom four were sent to the hospital. Three people were treated as a result of police violence and seven for severe trauma after being crushed by the crowds, she said. Another 33 were treated for heat exhaustion and loss of consciousness, with children, pregnant women and the elderly the most vulnerable.
“We’ve been calling for months now to provide the proper reception system that will give humane and decent conditions,” said Kourasa.
“Putting people in a stadium or having them live outside is not a solution to the problem. These people are refugees and need to be treated as humans.”
A Greek police spokeswoman told CNN that the situation Thursday was calm, and that about 1,500 migrants had been taken the preceding day to the main port in Athens.
Police at the stadium worked into the night Wednesday to process almost 2,500 people claiming to be Syrian refugees and issue documents allowing them to leave the island, the spokeswoman said.
Registration efforts are continuing now for another 2,500 people, she said. There were about 5,000 people in the stadium, all thought to be Syrian, she said, but she was unable to confirm exactly how many have left.
Police are also registering migrants from elsewhere in the main police station on Kos, the spokeswoman said.
The number arriving in Kos in July was double that in June, Doctors Without Borders said, “turning a dire situation from bad to worse.” The great majority are refugees fleeing war in Syria and Afghanistan, the charity said.
Alekos Flambouraris, Greek minister of state for the co-ordination of government work, said Thursday that a ship with capacity to house 2,000 to 2,500 people would immediately be sent to Kos to act as a temporary processing center.
“The ship will cover basic accommodation needs, identification will take place (on board) and the difficult situation on the island will be to a large extent alleviated,” he said.
“We believe that the EU will assume its responsibilities and will help in the fight against the continuously growing humanitarian crisis.”
He criticized what he called the “petty exploitation of the tragic problem” of migration to Greece by political parties, organizations and the media, saying the government was trying to resolve the issue in accordance with international law.
Meanwhile, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos is meeting Thursday in Athens with Greece’s ministers for the interior, migration, public order, maritime affairs and health, EU spokeswoman Milica Petrovic said.
Avramopoulos is expected to give a televised statement Friday in Brussels, Belgium.
He was also due to speak Thursday with Kos Mayor Yiorgos Kiritsis, according to a statement from the mayor.
Kiritsis called for the European Union to provide emergency financial assistance to Greece to help it deal with the immigration problem in Kos, saying, “emergency situations require emergency decisions and measures.”
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