Things got out of
control in the port of Thermi in the island of Lesvos on Sunday, with locals to block migrants and refugees to
disembark from dinghy with a broken engine.
Not only did the locals used vulgar expressions and threats against the desperate people, they also attacked two local city counselors, journalists and photo-reporters and the head of the local UNHCR office. One photo-reported was injured.
“Borders closed, why did you come? … Back to Turkey …”. “Leave them in the boat, otherwise they will run across and run around like mice”, “Let’s get on a boat – who has a boat? -and to pull them in, “, “Into the sea …” the mob shouted.
Inside the boat, men, women and scared little children. Some with a heart give water and biscuits for the women and the children. Others, like a teenager boy pushes the boat away from the dock.
Angry that journalists were filming the incidents, the mob attacked an injured a German journalist, grabbed and threw into the sea the equipment of another and attacked the head of the UNHCR on Lesvos.
Two counselors from the City Council who tried to bring the mob to its senses were met with outrage and were pushed away by the crowd.
The two German correspondents denounced verbal threats against them by the mob, pointed out to authorities’ indifference.
It all started after the boat engine broke and it drifted between Skala and Panayiousa island for reportedly four hours.
At some point, a lifeguard boat and another boat towed it into the port and left it there, away from the dock.
When der Spiegel correspondent left the port and moved to cover the road blocks set by locals so that migrants won’t come through he was attacked again by a mob.
More than 400 people arrived on Lesvos on Sunday setting locals in uproar. In an atmosphere beyond logic and dangerously close to hysteria, authorities decided to cut the island into two by setting up “borders.”
Source: Keeptalkinggreece
