EU, UN criticize Balkan police crackdown on Afghan migrants

Reuters journalists saw hundreds gathered at petrol stations and motels along the 530-km (330-mile) route from Athens to Macedonia, where guards periodically opened the border, letting 100 people through at a time.

“They keep on repeating that they are going to do things in a soft way”, said Maya Konforti of the Migrants Shelter association.

“We’re going to see the backlog of people grow exponentially now, and you’ll have upward of 20,000 to 40,000 people getting stuck over the next few days”, said Kirk Day, Europe representative of the International Rescue Committee.

In January Belgian authorities arrested almost 1,000 migrants trying their luck in Zeebrugge – compared to just 133 in the same month previous year.

Greece may be sliding into a humanitarian crisis, European Union officials warned Tuesday, as thousands of migrants became stranded after Macedonia sealed its border and thousands more arrived from Turkey. “By experience, we know they will be pushed towards smuggling networks and unsafe routes, exposed to the risk of abuse and violence”.

 Austria has joined the Visegrad Group (comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in calling for tougher border controls within the borderless Schengen Area, and last week imposed strict daily limits on the number of asylum applications it would accept.

“We are concerned about the developments along the Balkan route and the humanitarian crisis that might unfold in certain countries especially in Greece”, EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Dutch Migration Minister Klaas Dijkhoff said in a statement.

Thousands of migrants were left stranded in Greece following Macedonia’s decision to tighten border controls this week.

New figures published by the International Organization for Migration showed that 102,547 people had arrived in Greece and another 7,507 in Italy so far this year.

“Our country’s non-invitation to this meeting is perceived as a non-friendly act, as it creates the impression that some, in our absence, want to initiate decisions that affect us directly”, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said. On Wednesday, around 3,000 people were waiting at the Idomeni crossing point with Macedonia, police said, with the Macedonians allowing 860 people through overnight.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told reporters the Greeks “are only interested in transporting the refugees as fast as possible to central Europe”. “We have already seen a movement of migrants in transit”, Jambon said.

Greek police were instructed to halt buses with migrants from heading to Idomeni at the border with Macedonia on Wednesday, an official said.

Bill Frelick, refugee program director at Human Rights Watch, accused European Union countries of turning a blind eye to plight of Afghan asylum-seekers.

“Once again, Europe is resorting to closing its borders to asylum-seekers, instead of coming up with realistic policies to address the plight of those fleeing war and repression”, he said.

The German government is stressing that it still views finding a pan-European solution to the migrant crisis as the priority as neighboring Austria and several Balkan countries discussed the influx in Vienna.

Under the agreement, Valencia will arrange for a ship with a capacity of 1,000 people to sail from the Aegean islands to Spain, with the possibility of such a journey being repeated.