EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA GREECE BORDER Conditions on Greece-Macedonia border deteriorate as entry limited

Record ID: 143039

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA GREECE BORDER Conditions on Greece-Macedonia border deteriorate as entry limited
  • Date: 22nd August 2015
  • Summary: BORDER AREA BETWEEN GEVGELIJA, MACEDONIA AND IDOMENI, GREECE (AUGUST 22, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWD OF MIGRANTS STANDING / SITTING AND WALKING AROUND MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND MAN SITTING AND SLEEPING WOMAN SITTING ON GROUND HOLDING CHILD WHO IS SLEEPING CHILD SLEEPING WOMAN SITTING ON GROUND HOLDING CHILD IN ARMS HUMANITARIAN WORKERS DISTRIBUTING BOTTLES OF WATER M
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB1VF20L7MMLVAVPG3ETNVQ918
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The number of migrants and refugees grew on Greece's border with Macedonia on Saturday (August 22) after many spent a cold, wet night in the open air as police and soldiers limited entry into the country.
    Some 600 of the mostly Syrian refugees were allowed through overnight, packed onto a 5am (0300 GMT) train at the Gevgelija railway station and sent north to Serbia, the last stop en route to Hungary and Europe's borderless Schengen zone.
    More could be seen arriving by foot on the Greek side as morning broke, many of them Syrian refugees brought by boat chartered by the Greek government to the mainland from inundated Greek islands such as Kos.
    Conditions at the border have deteriorated with some aid being given to migrants with little or no access to shelter, food or water but some, who have seen an opportunity for business, have opened kiosks in the area offering sandwiches for three euros.
    "We are here with family, family has babies, with children, and we are here with expensive food and bad bathrooms so we feel like we are animals, like this," said Syrian Omer.
    Police and soldiers deployed along Macedonia's southern border with Greece struggled on Saturday to control the numbers of refugees and migrants, many of them fleeing Middle East conflicts, seeking to reach western Europe.
    On Friday (August 21), Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades to drive back angry crowds of Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis and others seeking passage through the impoverished Balkan country, the latest flashpoint in a crisis that has dragged the conflicts of the Middle East to Europe's doorstep.
    The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR urged Macedonia to reopen its border and to provide more help to the vulnerable.
    Macedonia says it must ration entry to control a tide that hit 2,000 per day in recent weeks and caused chaos at the local Gevgelija railway station as crowds stormed trains and small children squeezed through open carriage windows.
    "I hope we will cross, we will go and we will forget what we live. I think if a Chairman or President (referring to Macedonian authorities) live this situation he would move his army and let us go," another migrant from Syria, Muhammad, said.
    Over 40,000 entered Macedonia in the past two months. Some 50,000 hit Greek shores by boat from Turkey in July alone.
    The Macedonian government said it could take no more and sent riot police and the army to the border. But the pace of entry being allowed appeared insufficient to alleviate the crush the other side of the riot police lines.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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