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Greek Police Beat Afghan, Syrian Migrants Amid Refugee Crisis


Afghan immigrants land at a beach on the Greek island of Kos after crossing on a dingy a part of the south-eastern Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece in May.
Afghan immigrants land at a beach on the Greek island of Kos after crossing on a dingy a part of the south-eastern Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece in May.

Police on the Greek island of Kos beat migrants with truncheons and sprayed them with fire extinguishers on August 11 as the mayor warned that the refugee crisis there could end in "bloodshed."

The migrants, mostly Afghans and Syrians, were being relocated to a local football stadium on Kos after camping on roadsides and beaches for weeks.

Police used truncheons and fire extinguishers to prevent fights and stampeding as a crowd of about 1,500 migrants tried to squeeze through a door into the stadium for registration.

On August 10, a police officer on Kos was suspended after being filmed slapping and shoving migrants who were lining up outside the police station to be documented so they could travel on to Athens.

Kos’s mayor says about 7,000 illegal migrants are stranded on the tiny island, which lies off the coast of Turkey and has a population of 30,000.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
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