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European officials denounce xenophobia, pledge support to Greece for refugee influx

Xinhua, September 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

European officials denounced xenophobia and pledged their imminent support to Greece and other countries at the forefront of the current unprecedented refugee influx during a visit to the Greek island of Kos on Friday.

The call for a common humane solution to the challenge came as tensions rose on the island with a group of locals scuffling with migrants in one incident and refugees scuffling with police in another.

Europe must find a solution which strikes a balance between protecting its societies and not abandoning its values, European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said on Friday in Kos.

"If we forget this, we forget who we are and we leave Europe to the xenophobes, the extremists, who will destroy it," he told media after talks with local officials.

Kos, Lesvos and other Greek islands near Turkey's coast have received more than 200,000 undocumented migrants and refugees, mostly from Syria this year.

The record number has put local authorities and societies under tremendous pressure as they cannot offer fundamental aid to such numbers. During the summer, hundreds of people reached the islands on boats and the international community was shocked by multiple tragedies when dozens, including children, die at sea.

EU Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos added that during the visit Greece would receive the first 33-million-euro (37 million U.S. dollars) installment of about 474 million euros of EU funding to help deal with the emergency.

The two EU officials made the remarks on the day when about 1,000 mostly Afghan migrants tried to storm a ship to Piraeus port without tickets and were pushed back by police.

The migrants have been waiting for days for the island's registration procedures which would grant them permission to continue their trip to the mainland and onward to Northern European countries.

In another incident, a group of about two dozens locals clashed with refugees outside the local police department and police dispersed the crowd by firing tear gas. Endit