Macedonia Declares State Of Emergency To Block Surge Of Migrants

The United Nations voiced concern at the force used by the Macedonian riot police to disperse refugees and urged the Skopje government to establish “orderly management” of its borders.

Macedonian police clashed Friday with the migrants and fired stun grenades and tear gas as the crowd, which included men, women and children, attempted to push past the police line and enter the country.

Greece, particularly on the tourist hotspot islands, has been overwhelmed by the influx because some 160,000 had arrived in the country so far this year.

Macedonia’s tough stance comes from its claim that it can not deal with the influx of migrants moving from their Mediterranean landing points in Greece and Italy and heading across the Continent for EU countries that will guarantee them asylum.

Nearly 39,000 migrants, a lot of them Syrians, have registered as passing through Macedonia over the past month, double the number from the month before.

Macedonia has declared a state of emergency because of the number of people wanting to pass through it to northern Europe, leading to desperate scenes of crowds battling to board packed trains.

Refugees from the Center East, Africa and Asia, lots of them Syrians, spent a chilly night time on the border on Thursday as Macedonia declared a state of emergency and successfully blocked its southern frontier to refugees. At least four people were injured in the melee early on Friday.

Here is a gallery of images by Associated Press Photographer Darko Vojinovic showing the chaos at the border.

Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UN’s refugee agency, criticised Macedonia for closing its border. She said she gave birth on a Greek island while joining the massive migrant exodus from countries wracked by war and poverty.

There are only three regular trains a day running on the 170-kilometer (100-mile) route to the border, where the migrants again have to walk to Serbia. Migrants and refugees would ordinarily be able to fly without any issues, but most are unable to pay for the expensive flights.

To the north, Hungary is racing to complete a fence along its 175km border with Serbia to keep them out, threatening to create a bottleneck of tens of thousands.

Hungarian journalist György Kakuk, who initially did not reveal his name, joined refugees traveling north from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

“We can help in a better manner, a more humane manner, if 100 are entering per day, instead of 1,000 or 10,000”, said the spokesman, Ivo Kotevski. “Officer individuals in Macedonia, they shoot the individuals”, a refugee, who didn’t need to be recognized, informed Reuters. A group of some 100 migrants who crossed the border was at the Gevgelija train station on Friday. “I think they’ll let all of us go eventually”.

“We can only succeed if we work together on this, not against each other“, Annika Breidthardt, the Commission spokesperson, said in a statement.