The patience of the migrants who were trapped for days in the transition camp at Idomeni ran out on Monday, once the news was spread that three migrants drowned trying to cross the Suva Reka river into Macedonia illegally.
Advertisement
About 20 journalists who accompanied the group on their march to find an alternative route into Macedonia after the country closed its borders were taken to a police station in the Macedonian town of Gevgelija, said the reporter, who was among them. Their nationalities were not confirmed.
The reports come after the closure of borders along the so-called Western Balkan migrant route, which has resulted in more than 10,000 refugees being stranded in Greece at its border with Macedonia.
The migrants crossed the border just days before leaders from the European Union and Turkey are due to meet again to seal an agreement meant to keep migrants in Turkey from moving to Europe through Greece.
Hundreds of refugee and migrants stranded in Greece are crossing into neighboring Macedonia, defying border closures by Balkan countries.
Some older family members stumbled after losing their footing in the swift-flowing water, while some parents carried children on their shoulders as they made their way across the make-shift river crossing.
The result has been growing pressure at the Greek-Macedonian border, where an estimated 12,000 to 14,00 migrants have been stuck in increasingly desperate conditions, including an outbreak of hepatitis A.
Once over the river, they walked along the border fence until they found the point where it ended in mountainous country.
“Regarding the Balkan route, yes, there is no doubt that Germany, at the moment, benefits from the fact that fewer people are coming and that also is connected to the closure of the Greek-Macedonian border”, Ms Merkel said during a news conference.
“This is the situation in which people have become desperate and frustrated”, said Ljubinka Brasnarska, a spokeswoman in Macedonia for the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. They are facing charges for violating the country border. Earlier in the day, Macedonian police found the bodies of three people thought to be migrants crossing a river in a nearby area.
Under the newly proposed plan, all migrants and refugees arriving on boats in Greece en route from Turkey would be turned back.
Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told Sunday’s newspaper Bild am Sonntag newspaper that “smuggling can’t be prevented entirely”.
Faymann says “we have to make clear to refugees that they can not pick where they will be accommodated in Europe”.
Advertisement
Konstantin Testorides reported from Skopje, Macedonia.
