Authorities, locals and charity groups struggled to provide registration, food and shelter to the new arrivals, many of whom are children. Syrian men form a safety passage for women following clashes during a registration procedure at the Kos stadium. Credit:Reuters Many of those on Kos, a popular tourist destination, had been camping in the main town's parks and squares. An attempt to have them relocated to a stadium for registration degenerated, with fights breaking out among some of the roughly 1500 people gathered in a long, crowded queue in the stadium. Police, who had a force of just a handful of officers to maintain control and carry out the registration, tried to impose order on the crowd by spraying the jostling migrants with fire extinguishers and using batons. Hundreds fled in panic.

Kos mayor Yorgos Kyritsis said strained local services, including the police and coast guard were unable to cope with the influx. Syrian refugees pack the stands inside the national stadium on the Greek island of Kos. Credit:Reuters "This situation on the island is out of control," he told Greek TV. "There is a real danger of uncontrollable situations. Blood will be shed." Similar protests and tension have occurred on several of the islands bearing the brunt of the migrant influx in recent weeks, including Lesbos, where the majority of new arrivals land. Tensions rise: Syrian refugees clash during registration on Kos. Credit:Reuters

The United Nations refugee agency called conditions for migrants on the Greek islands "shameful". Syrians rescued Syrian refugees rush to shore on Kos. Credit:Reuters This situation on the island is out of control ... blood will be shed. Yorgos Kyritsis, mayor of Kos Meanwhile, the Turkish coastguard rescued 330 Syrians adrift in the Aegean Sea on Tuesday after failing to reach Greece.

Members of the group said they had been travelling on eight small boats. They included dozens of children, at least five of them newborn, and women, some of whom were pregnant. Syrian refugees push to get registered on the Greek island of Kos. Credit:Reuters "We are told Europe will welcome us, but the door is closed in our face," said a 23-year-old man from Damascus. "We will try again every day to reach Greece." Several of the refugees said their boat had been stopped by armed Greek coastguard officers who ordered them to dump fuel, stranding them at sea. A spokesman for the Greek coastguard, Nikolaos Lagadianos, said it "categorically denied" the allegations, saying an incident had taken place off the Turkish town of Bodrum, further south, but that the Greek authorities had not been involved.

Crisis deepens Crisis-hit Greece has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people seeking refuge. The UN refugee agency said 124,000 have arrived this year by sea. Most are travelling to Greek islands in the Aegean Sea from the nearby Turkish mainland. Turkey is home to more than 1.8 million Syrian refugees escaping the four-year-old civil war. One Turkish coastguard officer in the seaside resort town of Cesme said his crew rescued 700 people in the past week, which he said was a record. "There has been a calamitous increase, and we do not have the resources to meet their needs," the officer said, declining to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.