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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Greece: Macedonia has closed its borders to Afghan migrants
IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — Macedonia closed its border to Afghan migrants early
Sunday, Greek police said, slowing the admission of refugees to a trickle
and leaving a growing bottleneck of people stuck at their shared border.
A Macedonian police spokeswoman denied there was any new prohibition
regarding Afghans, blaming the problem on Serbia, the next nation along the
Balkans migration route into Western Europe.
By early afternoon, about 1,000 migrants were waiting at the Greek border
camp in Idomeni — and at a gas station only 17 kilometers (11 miles) away,
80 buses with 4,000 more migrants were waiting to take them to the border.
Greek police said Macedonia refused to let Afghans through because Serbia
made the same decision and officials feared the migrants would get stuck in
Macedonia.
"The authorities of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia informed us
that, beginning at dawn Sunday, they no longer accept Afghan refugees
because the same problem exists at their border with Serbia," Petros Tanos,
spokesman for Greek police's Central Macedonia division, told The Associated
Press.
Despite the reports, about 500 migrants of all nationalities made the trek
on foot from the gas station to the border Sunday.
"I can no longer wait," said 17-year-old Ali Nowroz, one of the trekkers
from the Afghan city of Jaghori Zeba. "We have spent three nights in the
cold, we are hungry. They told me that the borders have been closed to us.
However, when I started from Afghanistan I knew borders were open for us. I
am going to the Idomeni border crossing to find out and ask why they have
closed it."
Since dawn Sunday, only 150 refugees from Iraq and Syria were allowed into
Macedonia, on top of 310 allowed in Saturday.
At the border Sunday, two Macedonian and two Czech policemen were thoroughly
inspecting the documents of Iraqi and Syrian migrants and would only let
them pass if they had passports or ID cards. Previously, Macedonian
authorities had accepted Greek police documents attesting that an individual
had been processed.
"Me and my brother have been waiting for three days here but we cannot cross
because we have no passports," said Hadi Dakhil, a 25-year-old from the
Iraqi city of Shingal. "The Turks confiscated them and, without them, the
Macedonian authorities will not accept us."
EU countries have sought to cap the influx of refugees after more than one
million people entered in 2015. Nations along the entry route have agreed to
jointly control the flow of migrants through their territories.
Macedonian police spokeswoman Natalija Spirova Kordikj told the AP that her
country had not closed its borders to Afghans, saying nine had been admitted
Saturday and one came through after midnight. Kordikj said it was Serbia
that had stopped admitting Afghans.
At a migrant collection center in Tabanovce, on the Macedonian side of its
border with Serbia, 617 Afghan refugees are waiting to be allowed into
Serbia, Kordikj said.
A Serbian official, in turn, said the decision to block refugees from
Afghanistan was made by Austria and Slovenia. Serbian Labor Minister
Aleksandar Vulin said Sunday that "everyone can move in accordance with the
rules set by Austria and Slovenia."
"Serbia does not decide who can pass through its territory without
consulting the states up the migrant route," he said. "(Our) borders are
open, Serbia has not closed its borders with Macedonia or Bulgaria in any
way."
At the Idomeni refugee camp, Greek police prevented Afghan migrants from
crossing the border, and back at the gas station, they persuaded some to
board buses back to Athens, 540 kilometers (335 miles) away.
A high-ranking Greek police officer who insisted on anonymity said police
were trying to avoid a pileup of rejected refugees that could lead to
violence.
So far, the Afghan refugees are peaceful but frustrated.
"I have been in the camp for two days, waiting to cross and continue my
journey to Germany," said Masoud Jahangirg, 19. "They informed us today that
borders are closed to us and I wonder why. I don't know what to do. I can
only wait. But why accept only the Syrians and the Iraqis and not us?"
___
Testorides reported from Skopje, Macedonia. Jovana Gec contributed from
Belgrade, Serbia.
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Source URL: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/greece-macedonia-has-closed-its-borders-afghan-migrants |
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