Migrants expelled from Greek camp after protest

Several thousand migrants have been stranded at…

Another 3,000 people were blocked in Athens after landing at the port of Piraeus from the Aegean islands, a government source said, adding that officials were scrambling to find room for them.

The minister said Athens was racing to negotiate an end the deadlock, saying Greece was trying to exert pressure at the “European and bilateral level”, AFP reported.

Migrants walks in a camp set outside Calais, France, Monday Feb. 22, 2016.

But since the six migrants – four Afghans, one Syrian and one Sudanese – have been in prison for a month awaiting their trial, they were freed Monday, prosecutor Jean-Pierre Valensi told The Associated Press by phone after the trial in Boulogne-Sur-Mer.

Some have been so desperate, they have tried to make it over the wire fence, only to be quickly arrested.

It is only required to upload onto Europe’s shared fingerprint database, Eurodac, the data of those who actually apply for asylum in the country, which is less than 10 per cent of those crossing into Austria.

Although EU officials said the Austrian decision was incompatible with human rights conventions, Balkan states along the migrant route from Greece have responded by implementing their own restrictions.

However, as the weather improved in recent weeks, the number of migrants increased, and more began to cut through the fence despite a heavy police presence.

On Friday, Austria announced a cap on the number of refugees it allowed into the country, though the move was heavily criticised.

As buses headed back south, hundreds more people were still travelling north towards the frontier, hoping for a chance to cross into Macedonia.

“Our plan is either to cross the border or to die over here”.

Renzi says a “principle of barriers and quotas” was unacceptable. UNHCR is making good progress in providing accommodation for 20,000 asylum-seekers in Greece in order to stabilize the situation, reduce irregular secondary movements, but further support and solidarity with Greece, including support for better functioning relocation programme, is needed.

In an effort to better manage the bloc’s external borders, the Dutch presidency of the EU will push the proposal for a European Border and Coast Guard, to be discussed on Thursday, so it can be operational during the summer, officials said.

Migrants arriving in Italy are often in “very bad condition, having been subjected to violence by smugglers in Libya”, the IOM said, adding that women were subjected to human trafficking.

In a joint statement issued on February 23, European Union migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Dutch migration minister Klaas Dijkhoff expressed concern about “the developments along the Balkan route and the humanitarian crisis that might unfold in certain countries especially in Greece”.

Nedeljkovic said that, for Macedonia’s part, “there are 617 people from Afghanistan in Macedonia who are not allowed to enter Serbia”, who are now “at a refugee transit centre” in Macedonia’s Tabanovce.

Greek police removed migrants from the Greek-Macedonian border on Tuesday after additional passage restrictions imposed by Macedonian authorities left hundreds of people, mainly Afghans, stuck at the border.

Among the protesting Afghans was Shafiulahh Qaberi, 25.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Turkey and its allies have agreed that “if the people were rescued by NATO, if they come from Turkey, we can return them to Turkey”. “I don’t need food and I don’t need water”.

“I can’t get to the (border) camp, and members of my family are there”.