UNHCR: 30,000 refugees entered Greece

There are currently 30,000 refugees on the Greek islands, 20,000 of them on Lesbos, the UNHCR announced, as reported by the Patria news agency.

More than 4,500 are on the island of Kos, which was earlier the scene of clashes between refugees and Greek police.

UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming said that several thousand new refugees arrive in Greece every day, but that a decrease was recorded over the weekend after a sharp increase.

As she stated, a record number of 7,000 refugees arrived in Macedonia.

Fleming said that Europe must offer guaranteed resettlement for Syrian refugees, who are fleeing in record numbers to Macedonia and Greece due to unfortunate circumstances in their country and neighboring countries.

The UNHCR spokesperson said at a briefing in Geneva that talks in Europe on this issue are urgent, because it is "obvious that there is no German solution for a European problem."

She welcomed separate offers from Britain and France to take in Syrian refugees, but added that reception centers must be opened in some countries, including Hungary and Greece.

"They can work only if there is a system of guaranteed resettlement, in which European countries agree to take in a certain number of refugees. We believe that 200,000 refugees should be resettled in European countries," she said.