Following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, in mid-November, many Balkan states started to limit access to their territory, filtering migrants according to their country of origin.
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The UN refugee agency has also voiced concern for 12,000 Syrian refugees stranded at the border with Jordan.
In another such incident, Greek coastguard recovered the bodies of 11 people, including five children, after their wooden boat sank off the island of Farmakonisi in the early hours on Wednesday, a coastguard official said.
Greece is one of the most crucial transit countries for migrants – more than 750,000 asylum seekers initially arrived in Greece after crossing the Mediterranean. Escorted by police motorcyclists and patrol cars, the buses were expected later Wednesday in Athens, where authorities have set up shelters and will encourage the migrants to make asylum applications in Greece.
The migrants – mainly from Pakistan, Somalia, Morocco, Algeria and Bangladesh – will be sheltered in disused Olympic stadiums, police said, adding that some 350 riot officers were mobilised at dawn for the operation.
Some scuffles broke out and about 30 men were taken to a police station.
Meanwhile, France and Germany yesterday said they are “firmly convinced” of the need to reduce the flow of migrants into Europe, they wrote in a joint letter to the EU Commission seen by AFP.
Some reports say journalists have been kept away from today’s police operation.
The Idomeni crossing has been the scene of angry demonstrations among migrants who have been stranded for three weeks.
A few sewed their lips shut in protest.
Tents and temporary homes were destroyed as only refugees from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan were allowed through. It was apparently heading for the Greek island of Chios. Some 26 people were rescued.
Weather conditions in the area were good but survivors told the coast guard the boat had begun taking on water shortly after setting sail from Turkey.
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Geographically located between war-torn Syria and Iraq in the southeast and the European Union member states of Bulgaria and Greece in the northwest, Turkey has become a transition point for foreign migrants looking to illegally cross into the European Union in an endeavor to flee the violence in Iraq and Syria, well as gain a higher standard of living.
