EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA Thousands of migrants stranded in Greece after Macedonia declares emergency

Record ID: 143306

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA Thousands of migrants stranded in Greece after Macedonia declares emergency
  • Date: 20th August 2015
  • Summary: IDOMENI, GREECE (AUGUST 20, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS PROFANITY*** VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS SLEEPING ON RAILWAY TRACKS MIGRANTS SITTING UNDER TREE MIGRANTS SITTING NEAR RAILWAY TRACKS MAN WALKING WITH CHILDREN MEDICAL EMERGENCY AMBULANCE COMING MIGRANTS STANDING IN LINE IN FRONT OF TRUCK KIOSQUE AND MEDICAL AMBULANCE VAN ARRIVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM SYRIA, SAYING: "The only thing that I have noticed is that Greece's shit treatment to the refugees is better now but the others, Macedonians are so, so, so bad. I don't know why they closed the lines, the borders, I don't know, there is no reason." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM SYRIA, SAMIM, SAYING: "No option, no other choices, I can't go back, I tried to take my father, I bring my father with me, he is old 75, he has been to Turkey and we tried to go to Europe." MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND WOMAN SLEEPING ON GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT, MUHAMMAD RASHEED, SAYING: "I wait here one month, then open Macedonia [referring to border] (JOURNALIST ASKING: "YOU DON'T GO BACK?") No, I don't go back, where go back? I can't go back we shall stay here." VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS STANDING IN LINE MIGRANTS WALKING DOWN TRACK HUMANITARIAN WORKERS DISTRIBUTING FOOD MIGRANTS STANDING IN LINE TO GET FOOD MIGRANTS TRYING TO GET SOME FOOD FROM HUMANITARIAN WORKER MIGRANTS STANDING IN LINE
  • Embargoed: 4th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5QEJOGW5G02EE7HRPSDH9QKBW
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE
    Thousands of migrants were stuck on the Greece side of border with Macedonia on Thursday (August 20) after Macedonia declared a state of emergency and called out the army on Thursday to confront a surge in migrants and refugees trying to reach western Europe, leaving several thousand stranded in no-man's land.
    "We expect the involvement of the army will bring two desired effects - it will increase security among our citizens in the two regions and will allow for a more comprehensive approach toward people expressing their interest in applying for asylum," Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski was quoted as saying.
    Authorities said official border crossings remained open, but that they would "reduce illegal border entry to a minimum".
    The flow into Gevgelija, which has hit 1,500 to 2,000 a day, suddenly stopped. The shutdown came after days of desperate scenes at the local railway station as thousands of people pressed to board trains to Serbia, young children being passed through open carriage windows.
    In the Greek town of Idomeni, just over the border from Gevgelija, thousands of migrants camped out after the announcement.
    "The only thing that I have noticed is that Greece's shit treatment to the refugees is better now but the others, Macedonians are so, so, so bad. I don't know why they closed the lines, the borders, I don't know, there is no reason," one Syrian migrant told Reuters.
    "No option, no other choices, I can't go back, I tried to take my father, I bring my father with me, he is old 75, he has been to Turkey and we tried to go to Europe," another Syrian, Samim, said.
    One of those waiting, Muhammad Rasheed, said he wanted to stay as long as needed to cross into Macedonia.
    "I wait here one month, then open Macedonia... No, I don't go back, where go back? I can't go back we shall stay here," he said.
    Macedonia acted as a Greek car ferry docked in Athens carrying 2,400 Syrian refugees from the island of Kos, just some of the 50,000 Middle Eastern, African and Asian migrants and refugees who arrived in Greece in July alone. Many will take buses north, heading for Macedonia, then Serbia and Europe's borderless Schengen zone in Hungary.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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