About 1,000 people joined protests in Greece in support of migrants and refugees, as politicians met to decide how to handle an influx of migrants.
The protests came as interior ministers from five EU nations, including Greece, called for an automatic relocation system for migrants arriving in the bloc's southern Mediterranean nations.
Most of the migrants travelling to the EU on boats and dinghies from North Africa arrive in Italy, Spain, Malta, Cyprus and Greece. On Saturday, those governments said they needed more help.
The protesters in Athens demanded that their government does more to help the migrants, including rights to asylum, safety and education.
The migrants make harrowing journeys to reach Europe and many die – more than 1,200 last year – on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.
The stretch of water is a major human trafficking route for migrants, who converge on Libya from across Africa and the Middle East, trying to reach Europe.
For the countries on the front line, it has become a political issue as well as a humanitarian one.
"We can no longer be punished for our geographical position. We can no longer be left to deal with irregular arrivals from third countries alone," said Byron Camilleri, Malta's Interior Minister.
"We can no longer be punished for saving lives at sea. Hopefully the joint position that we are highlighting today will serve as another step towards reaching a consensus, a consensus which is based on common sense, justice and European solidarity in practice."
The five nations said they wanted to establish an automatic and mandatory relocation mechanism, but have not yet released details of how it would work.
"We are interested in finding viable solutions within this migration pact but there must be an equitable sharing of responsibility between the 27 member states," said Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. "This cannot fall only on the states at the front line."
