Lesbos residents refuse to let migrants disembark

(1 Mar 2020) Greek islanders prevented a group of migrants from reaching shore on Sunday after refusing to allow them to disembark from a dinghy that had sailed over from Turkey. When the migrants reached Thermi on the island of Lesbos, residents heckled them with shouts of "stay in your country" and "the border is closed". The migrants, including families with young children and babies, weren't able to leave their dinghy, and one of the residents used a rod to push it away from the port. At the same time, two German reporters were attacked, and locals were seen kicking camera equipment into the sea. Lesbos already hosts almost 20,000 migrants, who live in a camp with a capacity of less than 3,000. Groups of migrants who arrived on other parts of the island remained there for hours because locals prevented buses from transporting them to the main camp. Greece said it was using “all available means” to tell migrants that the country’s borders were closed, including text messages to foreign mobile phones in the border area. Last week, protests by Greek islanders over the migration situation descended into clashes with riot police in Lesbos and Chios. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...