Nearly 2,000 refugees and migrants have reportedly been stranded during a rainy night in a border area between Greece and Macedonia, with hundreds more arriving there in the hope of reaching Western Europe.
War refugees, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, who have remained in the no-man’s land at the border area since Thursday, slept the night on Friday in open space despite heavy rain and declining temperatures, AFP reported.
This is while Macedonian army soldiers were deployed throughout the wooded area that lines the 50-kilometer border, the report added citing army spokesman colonel Mirce Gjorgoski, who did not offer further details.
Meanwhile, Macedonia declared a state of emergency on Thursday and sealed off its border for 24 hours.
However, following clashes between police and migrants that left at least eight refugees injured, Skopje decided to allow in a limited number of the migrants so that they could continue with their journey to Western Europe.
Macedonian security forces began allowing several dozens of refugees to cross the border and take a train to the north late on Friday in their efforts to reach the European Union zone.
Moreover, hundreds more migrants were also reported to be heading towards the border from the Greek side on foot or arriving on buses from the direction of the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki.
According to figures released by the UN refugee agency, thousands of migrants pour into Greece every week in an effort to travel through Macedonia and Serbia to reach the European Union.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]
www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the
copyright owner.
