AFP, Athens :The Greek government was set to hold talks Wednesday on the huge numbers of migrants landing on its shores, as 4,300 more people arrived in Athens overnight, most of them Syrian refugees.Two ships carrying the latest arrivals docked at Athens’ Piraeus port after sailing from Lesbos, one of several Greek islands struggling to cope with the huge waves of people crossing the Mediterranean from Turkey in flimsy boats.About 1,800 people arrived on the Greek mainland on Tuesday evening, with another 2,500 landing at dawn, port police said, adding that they had been taken to a nearby train station.The ships were chartered by the Greek government to help relieve pressure on Lesbos, whose authorities and infrastructure are ill-equipped to deal with the huge influx of people.More than 160,000 people have arrived in Greece this year, most of them fleeing war in the Middle East, as Europe grapples with its biggest migration crisis since World War II.For many, Athens will be merely the first stop in a gruelling land journey north through the Balkans in a bid to reach Hungary, a key entry point into Europe.The numbers crossing from Turkey to Greece have soared over the summer as the migrants, many paying more than $1,000 to smugglers for the risky passage, take advantage of the calm seas to make the crossing.The Greek government — which has just accepted a third international bailout as it struggles to pay enormous debts — has repeatedly said it is unable to cope with the scale of the influx, calling for a coordinated European response and for more resources to help it tackle the crisis.Greece’s government says it lacks the resources to look after that many arrivals, but aid groups say authorities should be doing more.On Tuesday, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos called his French counterpart Francois Hollande and asked that the situation facing Greece be discussed at a senior European level.Greece’s caretaker cabinet is set to convene later on Wednesday.Many of those arriving in the country do so on the island of Lesbos, where, according to the Kathimerini newspaper, 17,500 migrants were registered in the last week.One ferry carrying 1,749 migrants travelling from Lesbos arrived in the port of Piraeus, near Athens, late on Tuesday. One of the passengers, a Syrian teacher named Isham, told Reuters news agency: “You have to help us. We are human.”Another, with close to 2,500 on board, was due to arrive on Wednesday.Greek ministers were set to meet Wednesday morning on the crisis, which is likely to be at the centre of talks scheduled Thursday in Athens between Greek officials, the European Commission’s vice-president Frans Timmermans, and Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU’s Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner.Under an EU rule known as the Dublin Regulation, refugees should seek asylum in the first EU country they enter. But Italy and Greece – the main landing points – say they cannot cope with the numbers and many migrants head north.On Monday, Hungary had appeared to abandon efforts to register migrants, allowing huge numbers to board trains at Keleti station in east Budapest and travel to Vienna and southern Germany.But on Tuesday the Hungarian authorities sealed off the station to migrants, saying it was trying to fufill its obligations as an EU member by upholding border controls.Overnight, some 2,000 people remained camped outside the station.Hundreds of migrants again protested on Wednesday morning, chanting “Freedom, freedom” and waving train tickets.Members of the crowd have complained that they had paid hundreds of euros for tickets to Austria or Germany.
