This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europes-crisis-worsens-migrants-face-razor-wire-tear-gas/2016/02/29/49b0f562-df41-11e5-8c00-8aa03741dced_story.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Up to 10,000 migrants stuck on Greek-Macedonian border Out in the cold: Refugees get no good news at Greek border
(about 9 hours later)
IDOMENI, Greece — On foot or by taxi, hundreds of exhausted refugee families trying to reach Western Europe flocked Tuesday to a burgeoning tent city on Greece’s border with Macedonia, which has not allowed anybody in for 24 hours, citing a similar policy by Serbia further north. IDOMENI, Greece — Hassan Rasheed’s papers have been cleared but the Iraqi refugee has spent days freezing in a tent with no tarp on the ground and flaps that don’t close, one of 10,000 migrants stuck at a muddy camp on the border of Greece and Macedonia.
The impasse drew strongly worded criticism from the United Nations refugee agency, which warned that Europe “is on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis.” They’re hoping for a breakthrough in Europe’s troubled negotiations on how to handle the deepening crisis. But there was little sign of that Tuesday.
A UNHCR statement said inconsistent policies in the continent, which faces its worst immigration crisis since the end of World War II, “are causing unnecessary suffering and risk being at variance with EU and international law standards.” Austria’s chancellor insisted he would not to let his country become a “waiting room for Germany,” while authorities from four ex-Yugoslav countries on the migrant route vowed closer cooperation to keep people out.
Greek police say there could be up to 10,000 people — mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees — stuck at the country’s Idomeni border crossing now in deteriorating conditions. Hundreds of tents fill the fields stretching toward the border fence, which is patrolled on the Macedonian side by scores of regular police, Macedonian special police forces and police from other Balkan countries. “I’ve been at Idomeni for 10 days and it’s the fourth day I’ve been waiting to cross over,” the 27-year-old Rasheed said. “Conditions are very bad. There are many ill children who are coughing, and we spent the night in this tent under heavy rain.”
During the day on Monday, Macedonia let in only 30 refugees. The heavily policed border, marked by a twin fence and coils of razor wire, remained closed a day after migrants attempted to push through the barriers and were forced back by Macedonian riot police using tear gas and stun grenades. Before that, sporadic closures since Feb. 19 had slowed the number allowed through to just dozens a day.
The Idomeni crossing has become a key flashpoint in Europe’s migration crisis. Several European nations, led by Austria, have imposed refugee caps and border restrictions over the past 10 days, creating a huge backlog of migrants in Greece. These unilateral actions have infuriated Greece and threaten to damage the unity of the 28-nation European Union. Overnight, rain soaked many families, who hung up clothing to dry Tuesday on the border fence.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch rights group directly blamed “discriminatory border closures” and a cap imposed by Austria for the situation at Idomeni. More exhausted refugee families continued to reach the burgeoning tent city in this Greek border town on foot or by taxi. Many walked up to 30 kilometers (18 miles) along Greece’s northern highways.
“Trapping asylum seekers in Greece is an unconscionable and short-sighted non-solution that is causing suffering and violence,” HRW Greece specialist Eva Cosse said. “It demonstrates once again the EU’s utter failure to respond collectively and compassionately to refugee flows.” Ahmed Majid, a 26-year-old Iraqi, was traveling with his wife and two young children.
European Union President Donald Tusk was in Austria Tuesday to try to persuade Chancellor Werner Faymann to change his mind about the country’s decision to accept no more than 80 requests for asylum a day at Austria’s southern border with Slovenia, but Faymann said he is holding firm. The cap has caused a ripple effect as other countries southwest of Austria stop people from getting through. “We have been walking for three kilometers. Police stopped our taxi on the highway, which is why we are going through the fields,” he said.
Faymann said Austria is neither a “waiting room for Germany” nor — in an allusion to Greece — prepared to accept the “policy of waving through” migrants to the rest of the EU through Austria. About 2,000 migrants are still reaching Greek islands from nearby Turkey every day, despite the recent deployment of NATO ships in the east Aegean Sea.
The Greek government, meanwhile, said it has requested 480 million euros in aid for the refugee crisis from the EU, under an emergency plan that foresees about 100,000 people being stranded in the country. European Council President Donald Tusk was in Austria on Tuesday to try to persuade Chancellor Werner Faymann to change his mind about the country’s decision to accept no more than 80 asylum requests a day at Austria’s southern frontier with Slovenia.
“That does not mean that this is easy to manage, or that this is what we can take,” government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said. “There must be a permanent solution on where the refugees will be relocated and what burden each country will shoulder, not just financial but also regarding how many refugees they will take in.” But Faymann said Austria was determined not to accept the “policy of waving through” migrants to the rest of the EU.
Some migrants have been waiting at Idomeni for more than a week. The camp is full and hundreds more people arrive daily. Overnight rain soaked many families, who hung up clothing to dry in the sun Tuesday. “Austria is not a waiting room for Germany,” he said. “This disorganized chaos must end. ... It’s important to have clarity on the EU’s external borders. (Otherwise) Austrians have to be active on their borders.”
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. He said Macedonia was waiting for Serbia to open that border. Meanwhile, Austria’s interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, announced plans by her government to launch an advertising campaign in Afghanistan — including billboards, TV ads and public bus banners — to discourage Afghans from trying to reach Europe.
About 70 adults and children, mostly from Pakistan, have been stuck on the Macedonian side of the border between two razor-wire fences for three days. Rexhepi said Macedonian authorities had been trying to send them back to Greece because they had crossed the border illegally, but Greece was refusing to take them. Tusk added a stop in Ankara to his schedule, ahead of next week’s summit of leaders from the EU and Turkey on migration.
“We are providing food, water, sleeping bags and raincoats for this group,” Rexhepi said. To prepare for the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to meet French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Friday, and she remained vocally opposed to the Austrian border closure.
On the Greek side, another group of 150 people who have been told it’s their turn to enter Macedonia have spent days in a large, flimsy tent in front of the crossing. “We must stand with Greece,” a spokesman quoted the chancellor as saying on a Twitter post. “I am therefore in constant contact with (Greek Prime Minister Alexis) Tsipras.”
“I’ve been at Idomeni for 10 days and it’s the fourth day I’ve been waiting to cross over,” said Hassan Rasheed, 27, from Iraq. “Conditions are very bad. There are many ill children who are coughing, and we spent the night in this tent under heavy rain.” In Athens, the government said it has requested 480 million euros ($520 million) in aid for the refugee crisis from the EU, under an emergency plan to cope with as many as 100,000 stranded refugees — roughly three times the number now stuck inside Greece.
Macedonia closed its border following clashes Monday when hundreds of migrants tried to force their way into the country. Police responded with tear gas and stun grenades, driving the refugees back. Athens is pressing EU countries to honor pledges to accept asylum seekers directly and for Turkey to help speed up deportations. The government said 69 people from North Africa considered ineligible for asylum were deported to Turkey, with another 230 people due to be sent back by Wednesday.
Nevertheless, small groups arrive in a steady flow, mostly on foot after walking up to 30 kilometers (18 miles) along Greece’s northern highways. The impasse in Greece drew strong criticism from the United Nations refugee agency, which warned that Europe “is on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis.”
One was Ahmed Majid, a 26-year-old Iraqi travelling with his wife and two children. A UNHCR statement said inconsistent policies on the continent, which faces its worst immigration crisis since the end of World War II, “are causing unnecessary suffering and risk being at variance with EU and international law standards.”
“We have been walking for 3 kilometers. Police stopped our taxi on the national road, which is why we are going through the fields,” Majid said. New York-based Human Rights Watch blamed “discriminatory border closures” and the cap imposed by Austria for the crisis.
Greece, meanwhile, deported 69 people from North Africa back to Turkey at the Kipi border crossing, saying they were only seeking better jobs and were not refugees in need of protection. A further 230 people are to be sent back by Wednesday, mostly Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian citizens. “Trapping asylum seekers in Greece is an unconscionable and short-sighted non-solution that is causing suffering and violence,” said the right’s group’s Greece specialist, Eva Cosse.
____ “It demonstrates once again the EU’s utter failure to respond collectively and compassionately to refugee flows.”
Testorides contributed from Skopje, Macedonia. Nicholas Paphitis and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed. ___
Jahn reported from Vienna. Associated Press writers Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, Macedonia; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia and Derek Gatopoulos, Nicholas Paphitis, and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.
___
Follow Kantouris at http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.