Greek riot police fire tear gas at crowds protesting against new migrant 'hotspot' on island of Kos

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Greek riot police fire tear gas at crowds protesting against new migrant 'hotspot' on island of Kos

By Nick Squires, Kos, eastern Aegean, video source Lars Scholtyssyk / Storyful / George Papapostolou
1:47PM GMT 14 Feb 2016

Islanders fear the refugee processing facility will wreck tourism

Greek riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades at crowds protesting against the construction of a refugee and migrant processing centre on the Aegean island of Kos.

Around 1,000 locals marched half a mile from the village of Pyli to the site of the proposed facility, which is being constructed on an abandoned army base.

^{Greek riot police fire tear gas at crowds protesting against new migrant 'hotspot' on island of Kos (Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph)}

It is one of five “hotspots” that Greece is building at the request of the EU on a chain of islands facing the Turkish coast, including Lesbos and Samos.

The centres are designed to bring more order to the flood of refugees crossing the Aegean, allowing officials to sort out Syrians and other genuine refugees from economic migrants.

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^{Greek riot police fire tear gas at crowds protesting against new migrant 'hotspot' on island of Kos (Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph)}

The protest was initially peaceful but when a group of islanders surged through the police lines guarding an access road to the centre, riot police in khaki fatigues and white helmets fired stun grenades and canisters of tear gas.

The crowd quickly dispersed and many people were left gasping for breath and with streaming eyes after inhaling the gas.

The Greek government is building the so-called “hotspot” in order to accommodate the tens of thousands of refugees who are expected to cross in boats this year from the Turkish coast, which lies just a few miles away.

But angry locals say the migrant camp will damage the image of the island and harm tourism.

^{Greek riot police fire tear gas at crowds protesting against new migrant 'hotspot' on island of Kos (Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph)}

They also fear that large numbers of young male refugees will be allowed to roam the local area at will.

“This is not about racism, it is about the security of our homes and our children. At the moment the kids can walk to school on their own and walk to each others’ houses but we worry that that will all change,” said Anna Karagiannis Chatzisevastou, 36, a mother of five.