The shadows of a couple is seen on a bus as other Refugees and Migrants wait inside after reaching the Athens’ port of Piraeus by ferry from the Greek islands, Monday, Feb. 22, 2016.
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Macedonian Press Agency, the move was triggered by Serbian authorities closing the country’s border to Macedonia to Afghan migrants, leaving nearly 370 people trapped at the border.
Since November, countries on the Balkan route have allowed only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans to continue their journey up towards Germany, Sweden and other European nations where they plan to apply for asylum. They told me that the borders have been closed to us.
“We have agreed to profile and register migrants in Macedonia and organize their transport”, Vlado Dominic, the head of Croatia’s police said after a meeting of the police chiefs in Zagreb.
“If the European countries dealing with the consequences of the migrant crisis opt to close their borders, what else is there for a country like Montenegro to do”, said Djukanovic, in London for a conference of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. At least one man made it over, and was promptly arrested by police on the Macedonian side.
Vlaho Orepic said Monday “the moment migrants can no longer be accepted particularly in Austria, we have to stop reception and transit” of the people crossing Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia on their way to western Europe.
Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin said Sunday that “everyone can move in accordance with the rules set by Austria and Slovenia”.
Although EU officials said the Austrian decision was incompatible with human rights conventions, Balkan states along the migrant route from Greece have responded by implementing their own restrictions.
Big rifts have opened up in the European Union as the continent grapples with its biggest migration crisis since World War II, which saw more than a million people land on Europe’s shores in 2015 and shows no sign of abating.
Macedonian authorities reportedly said that Serbia has done the same on its southern border with Macedonia.
In the 24 hours to 6 a.m. local (0400 GMT) Sunday, only 310 migrants had been allowed into Macedonia.
A high-ranking Greek police officer who insisted on anonymity said police were trying to avoid a pileup of rejected refugees that could lead to violence.
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So far, the Afghan migrants have been peaceful but frustrated. “They informed us today that borders are closed to us, and I wonder why. We don’t accept that”. That occurred after mobs shouted “we are the people” and “go home” while blocking asylum seekers being transported to a home in the state’s Clausnitz town on Thursday, an encounter that gained widespread attention when footage was posted on the Internet.
