EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SERBIA-NEW ARRIVALS More migrants cross into Serbia from Macedonia
Record ID:
142740
EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SERBIA-NEW ARRIVALS More migrants cross into Serbia from Macedonia
- Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SERBIA-NEW ARRIVALS More migrants cross into Serbia from Macedonia
- Date: 24th August 2015
- Summary: SERBIAN BORDER WITH MACEDONIA, NEAR MIRATOVCI, SERBIA (AUGUST 24, 2015) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS WALKING MIGRANTS WALKING BY TENTS AND SITTING ON GROUND SERBIAN POLICEMEN STANDING OPPOSITE LARGE GROUP OF MIGRANTS MIGRANTS STANDING IN GROUP MAN WITH BLANKET OVER HEAD MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND SHADING THEMSELVES FROM SUN POLICEMAN STANDING OPPOSITE MIGRANTS WAITING TO WALK (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNHCR OFFICER, DAVOR ROKO, SAYING: "We believe that in the last 24 hours several thousand, over six thousand -- and this is a very approximate number - persons [who] entered Serbia were in this camp." MAN HOLDING CHILD CRYING / KISSING CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM DAMASCUS IN SYRIA, TAREK, SAYING: "You know, we just need toilet, we have, the woman here they have an allergic from the sun, we just need to go outside from here, you know? To get there." VARIOUS OF WOMAN CRYING AND CARESSING CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM SYRIA, AHMET SAYING: "I'm expecting just to cross, I just want to cross to continue my journey, just want to cross. (JOURNALIST ASKING: "WHAT'S YOUR FINAL DESTINATION?") My final destination is Germany, hopefully." MIGRANTS SITTING IN FRONT OF POLICEMEN WITH ANTI RIOT SHIELDS MIGRANTS RUNNING, POLICEMEN LETTING THEM GO MIGRANTS WALKING, MAN CARRYING CHILD SHOWING "V" SIGN MIGRANTS WALKING ON ROAD / SIGN READING (Serbian): "BORDER LINE FORBIDDEN TO WALK AND STAY WITHOUT PERMISSION." MIGRANTS WALKING MAN PUSHING PRAM, MIGRANTS WALKING MIGRANTS WALKING TOWARDS BUS
- Embargoed: 8th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Serbia
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA7FGWIJU23U19B1AFDSKLGUYLH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Long lines of migrants, many of them refugees from Syria, snaked through southern Serbia by foot on Monday (August 24) before jumping on trains and buses north to Hungary and the last leg of an increasingly desperate journey to western Europe.
State authorities and aid agencies threw up tents and scrambled to supply food and water to thousands surging through the western Balkans, their numbers swelling since Greece began ferrying migrants from inundated islands to the mainland.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said more than 7,000 had reached Serbia from Macedonia between Saturday and Sunday, many of them having spent three desperate days on Greece's northern border after Macedonia halted their passage saying it could take no more.
On Saturday (August 22), crowds overwhelmed Macedonian riot police, who responded with batons and stun grenades.
Helpless to stem the tide, Macedonia rushed trains and buses to the border to carry them north, where they crossed into Serbia on foot.
More arrived on Monday, walking from the border crossing of Miratovac some 5 kilometres (3 miles) to a reception centre in the southern Serbian town of Presevo, where many received medical aid, food and papers legalising their transit through the country.
"We believe that in the last 24 hours several thousand, over six thousand -- and this is a very approximate number - persons [who] entered Serbia were in this camp," UNHCR officer Davor Roko said.
Most carried their belongings in rucksacks. Men carried small children on their shoulders. After a chilly night, temperatures were expected to near 30 degrees Celsius (86°F).
"I'm expecting just to cross, I just want to cross to continue my journey, just want to cross," one man, Ahmed, from Syria, said on the Serbian border. He added that his final destination was Germany.
Not since the wars of Yugoslavia's collapse in the 1990s has the cash-strapped western Balkans seen such large movements of people.
The problem threatens to worsen as EU member Hungary, part of Europe's borderless Schengen zone, races to complete a fence along its 175-km border with Serbia to keep them out, threatening to create a dangerous bottleneck. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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