Macedonian troops have sent some 1,500 migrants who crossed into Macedonia on Monday back to Greece, police said on Tuesday.
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The return threatened to escalate tense relations between Greece and the tiny landlocked Balkan state which sealed its borders last week, plugging the trail used by more than a million migrants past year to get into Europe.
Leaders of the EU’s 28 divided nations plan to reconvene in Brussels this week in hopes of ironing out disagreements on a proposed agreement with Turkey.
As the border remains closed, hopes of thousands of refugees who were hoping to start life afresh in Europe are slowly diminishing.
Success of the deal with Turkey relies heavily on scaling up of EU’s relocation scheme for mostly Syrian refugees.
“I was there when they [Macedonian authorities] were taking out the third body”, she sad on Tuesday, adding that the victims were from the same family – two sisters and one of their husbands.
The Greek government has called the refugees and migrants to let the Greek authorities transfer them from the border to hospitality spots and to understand that the situation at Idomeni is in an impasse.
Jolie greeted children and asked the throng of reporters, cameramen and photographers to be more “thoughtful” as she tried to speak with them.
“As long as (refugees) still believe that there is a chance of getting through (to Macedonia), this will continue”, immigration minister Ioannis Mouzalas said. “When migrants rush to us, nervous, cold and hungry, tensions are high”, said Milan, 29, from a mechanised infantry unit on guard. European Union officials say about 18,000 places remain.
Macedonian soldiers trudge through torrential rain in a borderland once home to quiet vineyards, searching for migrants trying to sneak through a hole in the locked-down gate to western Europe.
“We were surprised to see the army there”, said Omar, who fled fighting in Iraq, recounting how one man carried him for hours during their 8 km (5-mile) trek, up mountains and through valleys. For example, he says that people arriving are not refugees but a mass migration threatening the continent.
Cyprus, an European Union member, vowed on Tuesday to block efforts to speed up Ankara’s European Union accession talks unless Turkey meets its obligations to recognise its nationhood.
Fotiadis said more hurdles lurked in other European capitals, with EU heavyweight France concerned about granting Turks freer travel in Europe and many expressing doubts that some proposals were even legal.
EU President Donald Tusk said in Nicosia that last week’s outline deal “still needs to be rebalanced so as to be accepted by all 28 member states and the EU institutions”. According to Macedonian state news, 23 others were rescued from the river and lodged in a local refugee camp.
The appeal from Werner Faymann appears aimed at increasing pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of Thursday’s European Union refugee summit.
About 700 people pushed their way into Macedonia Monday through an unguarded section of the border, frustrated at being stuck for weeks in a waterlogged tent city outside the closed crossing of Idomeni.
“Some people collapsed by the roadside and needed medical attention on the tarmac and those that made it back to the camp faced a night out in the open, with rain starting to fall around 4.30am”, the organisation said.
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Greek authorities said there had been no official contact from Macedonia, so they could not confirm the return. They walked about five kilometres (three miles) and crossed a swollen stream near the Greek village of Hamilo.
