By Maydaa Abo El-Nadar
Due to its geographical position, Greece is one of the countries in the middle of the Syrian refugees’ crisis. Athens is the refugees’ lifeline to reach other countries that welcome them, such as Germany. Their journey to Athens starts mainly from Turkey passing through the Greek islands including Lesvos, Chios, Samos, or Kos.
Unlike the Greek police’s ill-treatment of refugees, which are blamed internationally, Greek citizen Frini Alogariastou told Daily News Egypt that on the islands full of refugees, many Greek citizens helped by providing them food, blankets, and other means of support.
Another reaction from the Greeks about the refugees was the majority of Kos residents refusing UNHCR’s call of establishing a refugee reception away from the port and its touristic areas, fearing the attraction of more refugees.
However, many Greek civilians on the same island reacted differently, including Greek baker Dionisis Arvanitakis, who provides around 100 kg of bread daily to migrants and refugees on the island of Kos.
According to an officer at the Port of Piraeus in Athens, who preferred to remain anonymous, more than 3,000 refugees over arrived daily to the port August and September.
In an attempt to control the situation, some posters have been recently put up among the port in Arabic, directing the refugees to hotels close to the Greek-Macedonian borders.
Because Macedonia shares its borders with Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, and Serbia; it witnessed a large flow of refugees to Europe. BBC news journalist Manveen Rana spoke to Daily News Egypt about an incident a month ago, when the Greek police opened its borders with Macedonia at around 1am. As a result, 5,000 refugees surged across the border from Greece to Macedonia and many of them were attacked by the Macedonian police.
Photos by Maydaa Abo El-Nadar and Courtesy of Dan Siegel
