New borders and restrictions have led to an an increase in the number of migrants at Greece’s Idomeni checkpoint from 5,000 to 14,000, Greek media reported Thursday.
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The 26-country Schengen area – allowing passport-free travel from Iceland to Greece – is under threat as a series of countries have reintroduced border controls to stem the flow of migrants through the bloc.
Thousands of people have been stuck for days at Greece’s northern border, overflowing from a packed refugee camp at Idomeni into the surrounding fields as they waited for Macedonian authorities to let them continue their trek through the Balkans.
“Open the borders!” they shouted as a group of men used a metal signpost to bring down a section of barbed wire fencing, prompting police to fire volleys of tear gas and block them from crossing.
The European Union’s leader chose the continent’s main gateway for immigrants Thursday to bluntly warn economic migrants not to even think of coming to Europe, while promising to work for a solution to the more immediate problem of refugees.
At least 30 people, including many children, requested first aid, the charity Doctors of the World said.
“We will not allow Greece or any other country to be turned into a warehouse of souls”, Tsipras said.
Western Balkan countries have also been enforcing a ban on “economic migrants”, i.e. people who don’t come from Syria and Iraq.
“Tragically, there seems to be more willingness among European countries to co-ordinate blocking borders than to provide refugees and asylum-seekers with protection and basic services”, said Giorgos Kosmopoulos, head of Amnesty International in Greece.
“We can’t do this in such a way that we simply abandon Greece”, she told public ARD television.
“When one insists on his border, the other suffers”.
“We are sticking to plans for a permanent distribution mechanism for refugees”.
Austria hit back quickly at criticism of its crackdown, describing it as “absurd”.
In France meanwhile, clashes broke out as authorities began bulldozing half of the “Jungle” migrant camp in the port city of Calais where thousands of migrants hope to sneak aboard lorries and ferries to Britain.
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“We are using all available instruments to address emergency needs (…) including the reinforcement of reception capacities, border management, relocation and returns”, commission representative Mina Andreeva told reporters in Brussels.
