Thousands of migrants trapped on Macedonian border

Emina, a migrant from Syria who boarded a train with her 2-month-old baby, blamed Macedonian authorities for “harassing” the migrants, not giving them food or water, and holding them back at the border.

Police fired stun grenades and dozens of people were injured as the refugees leaped over barbed wire or ran across a field not protected by the fence to enter Macedonia.

After entering Serbia, the migrants, fleeing wars and poverty, head toward EU-member Hungary from where they want to continue further north to richer EU countries, such as Germany and Sweden.

Figures from the UNHCR show thousands of migrants, majority from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, have been pouring into Greece on a weekly basis with the aim of travelling through Macedonia and Serbia to reach the European Union.

Several thousand rain-soaked refugees have been trapped in the border area between Greece and Macedonia since Thursday, when Macedonia’s government declared a state of emergency on the frontier to deal with the issue.

Serbia appeared better equipped than Macedonia to handle the surge in numbers, having recently opened the reception center in the southern town of Presevo.

After reopening the border, Macedonia sent buses and trains to carry the migrants north.

After a long wait, hundreds of refugees, many carrying small children, chose to make their way across the border by breaking the fences.

Police and security remained at the border yesterday, checking the refugees’ belongings and bags as they allowed them to pass through.

According to the Associated Press, the rush occurred after Macedonian police allowed a small group of migrants with children to cross the border.

“We must put in place a unified system for the right to asylum”, Hollande said in a brief statement ahead of talks, calling the influx from the world’s crisis zones “an exceptional situation that will last for some time”.

On Sunday, most of the refugees and migrants had left Macedonia on trains and buses, but more are expected to arrive from Greece.

Worldwide relief organizations have sharply criticized the European apathetic attitude toward the plight of the migrants, urging them to “wake up” to the scope of the problem.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said that the EU’s help for tackling the migrant crisis in the Balkans so far has been only “symbolic” and the main weight falls on Macedonian authorities, “not only financial but also humane aspect”.

The migrants have been entering Macedonia since Greek officials began ferrying thousands of people who arrived on their island shores over the past months to the mainland. “These are people entitled to worldwide protection”, he said.

From there, they should be able to take advantage of the Schengen Agreement, which permits total freedom of movement between member states.