They were met by Macedonian riot police. The slow tear-down of the encampment… Some 7,000 migrants, including many from Syria and Iraq, are crammed into a tiny camp at the G…
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A family warms by a fire in the early morning on the Greek-Macedonia border on Tuesday in Idomeni, Greece. Numerous refugees, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and North Africa, hope to reach Germany, which in 2015 took in 1.1 million asylum seekers.
Ivanov’s remarks reflect the view of most Balkan leaders that new restrictions they are placing on migrants are justified by curbs imposed by Austria, the destination of most of the migrants attempting to pass through.
Gerovassili said there were 25,000 migrants and refugees now in the country and that Macedonia was only allowing “a few dozen” through every day.
An immigration policy ministry announcement Monday said no permits would be issued for members of the media to visit mainland or island migrant facilities “until further notice”. Without adequate access to asylum registration, asylum seekers remain at risk of detention and deportation as irregular migrants. More than 400 migrants have died this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean, the organization reported, including 321 on the heavily traveled route between Turkey and Greece.
Hungary’s national election board has endorsed a referendum question proposed by the government to reject a European Union quota plan for the resettlement of migrants and refugees.
Police chiefs from Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, meeting in Belgrade, agreed to improve the system of joint registration of refugees to unblock gridlocks in Greece. Border restrictions further n…
Faymann spoke after meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk.
Austria hit back quickly at criticism of its crackdown, describing it as “absurd”.
Jasmin Rexhepi, head of the aid group Legis, which has volunteers working in Macedonia on its borders with Greece and Serbia, told The Associated Press that Macedonian authorities were restricting the numbers of migrants they let through because Serbia only allowed 30 people from a train carrying 410 to cross its border Monday. “Therefore each one of us has to do his part of the responsibility on his own territory”, he said. It’s not clear how many refugees managed to make their way through.
Merkel reiterated that the aim is to have a mechanism to distribute refugees arriving in Greece to other European countries.
But countries across the European Union have struggled to agree on who should shoulder the influx, and it has been particularly tough on Greece, which is still trying to deal with the aftermath of a punishing debt crisis.
Another 2,000 are already holed up in the passenger terminals of the port waiting for chartered buses to take them to the border, but the government has clamped down on the buses to stop them from heading north. The move has led to border slowdowns for migrants across the Balkans.
About two dozen migrants protesting the demolition of a sprawling camp in northern France are occupying shanty rooftops, and are surrounded by police.
Living conditions at Idomeni continue to deteriorate. The situation was mostly calm, although one member of the British “No Borders” activist group was arrested.
Calais is temporary home to an estimated 4,000 migrants, down from 6,000 in December.
Ivanov told Der Spiegel in an interview published February 29 that when Austria reaches its limit of 37,500 migrant entries, Macedonia will close its border with Greece, effectively shutting down the Balkan route to northern Europe used by hundreds of thousands of migrants.
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“The food is not enough, everyone is lying to us and we are desperate”, added Farah, among some 7,000 people – many stranded near the Idomeni border crossing for days, who awoke under wet canvas among sodden wheat fields.
