Macedonian police push back migrants

Associated Press

IDOMENI, Greece

Pressed against coils of razor wire and shouting “Help us!,” refugees stranded at Greece’s northern border were pushed back Monday by Macedonian police using tear gas and stun grenades, as the European Union scrambled to ease the escalating number of stranded migrants in Greece.

In a chaotic scene, Syrian and Iraqi refugees forced their way through part of a Macedonian border fence, some clutching infants or struggling to free duffel bags caught in the razor-wire fence. They were met by Macedonian riot police, bolstered by dozens of special forces officers flown in by helicopter to quell a refugee protest.

Amnesty International condemned European government for failing to adequately help stranded migrants.

“Tragically, there seems to be more willingness among European countries to coordinate blocking borders than to provide refugees and asylum-seekers with protection and basic services,” said Giorgos Kosmopoulos, Amnesty’s director in Greece.

Some 7,000 migrants, including many from Syria and Iraq, are crammed into a tiny camp at the Greek border village of Idomeni, and hundreds more are arriving daily.

The border pileup began 10 days ago, when Austria and four ex-Yugoslav countries on the Balkan migrant route north into Western Europe decided to slow border access for migrants to a trickle – and stopped letting Afghan migrants travel through their territory.

A U.N. official says those nations never did explain who made the decision on Afghan migrants, or why.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president, begins a tour of those countries today, starting in Vienna, which has been strongly criticized by other EU nations for its caps on asylum-seekers, and ending Thursday in Athens. Tusk is aiming to prepare for a meeting of leaders from the EU and Turkey on March 7, where the key topic will be trying to halt the flow of migrants from Turkey to Greece.

The number of migrants stranded in Greece topped 22,000 over the weekend, according to government estimates. Thousands have been sleeping outside in parks and along northbound highways, as refugee shelters quickly overflowed.

“Very many people were forced to sleep in the open, without tents, wrapped in blankets,” said 45-year-old Syrian refugee Nidal Jojack, who has been camped out with her family at Idomeni for three days.