world

Greece struggles to convince stranded migrants Balkan route is shut

March 11, 2016

Migrants queue up for food in a makeshift camp on the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, Greece. – Reuters pic, March 11, 2016.Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants were stuck in camps and ports across Greece today as authorities struggled to convince them that the main passage to reach wealthy northern Europe has shut.

By early morning hundreds more people, many from the Middle East and Africa, had reached Greek islands, days after the shutdowns along the "Balkan route" were imposed.

Their arrival helped swell the number of those stuck across the country to over 42,000. At a sprawling, muddy tent city near the northern border town of Idomeni, 12,000 people, among them thousands of children and babies, waited to cross to Macedonia.

"These people maintain the hope that a number of them will cross to the north," Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Toskas told Greek TV. "We're trying to convince them ... that the Balkan route has closed."

Further south, more than 3,500 people waited at the main port of Piraeus near Athens after having arrived on ships from the eastern Aegean islands.

"At Piraeus we spent five hours trying to get people on buses and take them to a camp, but they didn't want to board," Toskas said. "They think that once you reach Idomeni, you cross to central Europe."

Scuffles have broken out at Idomeni this week as destitute migrants and refugees scrambled for food and firewood. Tensions flared briefly on Friday and at least one man was injured, with blood streaming down his face, during a handout of supplies.

Many have slept in the open, often in the rain and low temperatures.

"In Syria we are fighting Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants), now we are fighting nature and I think its worse," said Ali, a Syrian refugee from Aleppo who has been in Greece for 20 days. "Isis has a limit but nature (has) no limit," he told Reuters. – Reuters, March 11, 2016.