EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA BORDER Macedonian authorities open Greek border for migrants

Record ID: 142818

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA BORDER Macedonian authorities open Greek border for migrants
  • Date: 23rd August 2015
  • Summary: MACEDONIAN GREECE BORDER NEAR GEVGELIJA (AUGUST 23, 2015) (REUTERS) EMPTY TENTS AT GREECE MACEDONIA BORDER DOG RUNNING AROUND AMONGST RUBBISH MIGRANTS WALKING ALONG RAILWAY TRACKS VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WALKING PAST TENTS MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND MIGRANTS STOPPED BY MACEDONIAN POLICE AND SITTING ON GROUND IN LINE VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS SITTING ON RAILWAY TRACK MAN AND CHILD LOOKING MIGRANTS SITTING ON RAILWAY TRACK MACEDONIAN POLICEMAN WALKING WITH MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND MACEDONIAN POLICEMEN STANDING NEAR SEATED MIGRANTS VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS STANDING UP MIGRANTS STANDING MIGRANTS ENTERING MACEDONIA MIGRANTS WALKING ON RAILWAY TRACKS GEVGELIJA, MACEDONIA (AUGUST 23, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS CROSSING BRIDGE MIGRANTS IN RAILWAY STATION VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON PLATFORMS TWO MACEDONIAN POLICEMEN STANDING SURROUNDED BY MIGRANTS MIGRANTS SLEEPING ON GROUND WOMAN STANDING WOMAN WITH SHIRT OVER FACE CHILD LOOKING TO CAMERA CHILDREN LYING ON PLATFORM MIGRANTS ON RAILWAY STATION PLATFORM
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA40K78MT6AQBJSX0OFT9WQOPNY
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A steady stream of migrants crossed unhindered from Greece into Macedonia on Sunday (August 23) after overwhelmed security forces appeared to abandon a bid to stem their flow through the Balkans to western Europe following days of chaos and confrontation.
    Riot police remained, but did little to slow the passage of hundreds of migrants, many of them fleeing the Syrian civil war and other conflicts in the Middle East, according to a Reuters reporter.
    Macedonia had declared a state of emergency on Thursday (August 20) and sealed its southern frontier to migrants pouring in at a rate of 2,000 per day en route to Serbia then Hungary and Europe's borderless Schengen zone.
    Saying they would ration access, riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to drive back crowds, but were overwhelmed on Saturday (August 22) by several thousand who tore through police lines or ran through nearby empty fields.
    The state eventually laid on extra trains, and busses arrived from across the country to take the migrants north to Serbia and the next step of a long journey from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
    A filthy strip of no-man's land was left strewn with rubbish after thousands of migrants spent several days and nights under open skies with limited access to food or water.
    The backlog created in Macedonia, which faces criticism from aid agencies for not expanding capacity to receive and process the migrants, reached Serbia overnight, straining the country's own ad hoc reception centres.
    Macedonia has accused neighbouring Greece, with which it enjoys a tense relationship, of aiding the migrants' journey north at a pace the Balkan country says it cannot cope with.
    Greece has begun chartering boats to take migrants from inundated Greek islands to the mainland, after a record 50,000 hit Greek shores by boat from Turkey in July alone.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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