Greece’s Deputy Interior Minister Yiannis Mouzalas visited Idomeni on Saturday and said Athens is willing to give free rides to refugees who have been denied entry into Macedonia to go back to the Greek capital. As a result, nobody else from the nationalities that Macedonia is letting through – Syrians, Afghans or Iraqis – were able to cross.
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The remaining are not allowed to cross into Macedonia because they are considered economic migrants and not refugees.
The partial closure of the borders could trigger huge pileups of desperate people along the Balkan corridor that has seen hundreds of thousands of people cross as they head to wealthy European Union states, mostly Germany.
Four nations along Europe’s Balkan refugee corridor shut their borders Thursday to all except those from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The next night, Macedonia closed its border with Serbia, leaving around 100 people stuck in the no-man’s land between the two countries’ border control posts.
“We’re trapped. … They won’t let my family across”.
Also on Wednesday around 440 people were blocked from entering Croatia at its border with Serbia, with border police from both countries working together to prevent people getting on trains at Sid. Although Syrians are the biggest group among the asylum-seekers, tens of thousands of people fleeing poverty – such as Pakistanis, Bangladeshis or Sri Lankans – have also joined the surge.
But on Thursday countries along the migrant route began tightening restrictions by accepting only those fleeing war, causing a backlog of hundreds of people.
Macedonian authorities took the decision to exclude migrants from non-war countries earlier this week following similar action by Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. Migrants believe that Macedonia too should do the same and provide them with undisturbed passage to the country’s northern border.
Slovenia has started imposing selection criteria, leading to concerns that migrants might change routes via Bulgaria, where conditions are even more precarious, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said.
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“We need to protect our country, which is why we are applying these reciprocal measures against those who Croatia and Slovenia consider have no place in their countries”, Vulin said.
