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“There will be a difficult few months ahead,” said Maria Stavropoulou, the director of Greece’s asylum service.

“We are dealing with people who speak 70 different languages and many have travelled to Greece without papers because they are escaping war.”

Of the 400 migration officers promised by the EU, only 30 had arrived so far, she said. New local staff would take “months” to train.

“The Greeks asked for a lot of help but so far they haven’t received it,” said Jonas Hagensen of Medecins Sans Frontieres after touring the main refugee camp on Lesbos. “They don’t have the manpower on the scale that is needed.”

The UN High Commission for Human Rights said it was concerned that some of the migrants deported on Monday, the first under the terms of the EU-Turkey migration deal, may have been sent by mistake. Greek police “forgot” to process the asylum claims of 13 of them.

On Chios, south of Lesbos, the Greek authorities were struggling to register and process 1,200 people in the island’s detention camp.

“Living conditions have deteriorated: people sleep outside; the food provision doesn’t cover the needs of people; there’s a lack of access to basic services and information,” said Katerina Kitidi of the UN’s refugee agency.

“We see many people arriving on Greek shores who should not be kept in closed facilities like this: victims of torture, rape, people with post-traumatic stress disorder, pregnant women and women who have recently given birth.”

At the refugee camp on Lesbos, about 200 Pakistanis and Afghans held a protest, chanting “We want freedom” under the gaze of Greek riot police. They held placards saying, “We don’t want to go to Turkey” and “Help.”