For a second day, they came. And, for a second day, they faced a wall of riot shields, razor wire and batons. But on Saturday something was different. As the Macedonian police waved a handful of exhausted refugees through from Greece, something snapped and hundreds rushed the lines, causing chaos and police retaliation in the form of volleys of stun grenades and beatings. Many were injured.
And yet they still came and, eventually, with the tide of humanity too much to hold, the Macedonians opened the border with Greece. The police, who only hours before had swiped and batted at the crowds, simply stepped aside as thousands – men, women and children, many from Syria – streamed through, crying tears of joy as they began their next step to sanctuary and escape from the horrors of war in their own countries.
Such is the desperation of the refugees here in Gevgelija, Macedonia, – soaking from the torrential rain that fell overnight, dog-tired from the journey through Turkey and Greece, their lives destroyed by conflict and the deep poverty blighting their home countries – that the Macedonians, for all their tough talk of recent days, could not stop them. By about 7pm on Saturday, only a few hundred remained at Gevgelija rail station.
It is unclear if the border will stay open, or for how long. But it is certain that these events won’t discourage others from following.
Rain and cold has made migrants’ journey even worse (Reuters)
The chaos began when police allowed a small group of refugees with young children to cross the frontier from Greece. Crowds at the back pushed towards the shielded police wall. Many women, at least one pregnant, and children fell to the ground, apparently fainting after squeezing past the cordon.
Then thousands of others grabbed their chance to run across a field not protected by barbed wire to enter Macedonia. Police stun grenades did not to stop the rush.
At least 25 injured people were brought to the Gevgelija station by fellow refugees. Many children lost contact with their parents in the chaos and there were desperate calls for “Mama, baba!”.
But constant pressure from the thousands of migrants on the razor-wired frontier eventually led to the police pulling back, a tacit admission of their inability to control the huge numbers coming to their border despite being under orders to block their passage north towards the European Union.
On Friday, a day after Macedonia’s government declared a state of emergency on the frontier to stop the human tide, police had fired stun grenades and clashed with the migrants. At least 10 people were injured.
Both Greece and Macedonia have seen an unprecedented wave of migrants this year, most fleeing the wars in Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq. More than 160,000 have arrived so far in Greece, mostly crossing in inflatable dinghies from the nearby Turkish coast – an influx that has overwhelmed the Greek authorities and the country’s small Aegean islands. Some 45,000 have crossed through Macedonia over the past two months.
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Macedonian police use tear gas and stun grenades on migrants
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Few, if any, of the migrants want to remain in Greece, which is in the grip of a financial crisis – or in impoverished Macedonia. Most head into the latter in the hope of cramming on to trains and heading north, through Serbia and Hungary, to more prosperous Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.
On Friday night, the police allowed only small groups of families with children to cross the border by walking on railway tracks to the station in Gevgelija.
Those who could not cross spent the rainy and chilly night in the open with little food. They massed close to some razor wire separating them from the Macedonian police. Some raised their babies above their heads to try to persuade the officers to let them through.
Exhausted people sought shelter wherever they could (Reuters)
“These men are heartless,” said Yousef, a Syrian refugee who gave only his first name, as he held a little wide-eyed girl with curly hair in his arms and pointed toward the police. “They don’t care about our tragedy.”
A police officer told the Associated Press news agency that the force was only following government orders.
“Until we receive a different order, the situation here will remain like this,” said the man, who refused to be named.
As the heavy rain continued, some migrants took off their shirts, booing and shouting insults at the police in their camouflage fatigues. Others took shelter inside dozens of small tents or under a few trees on a muddy field.
Last week, there were chaotic scenes at the Gevgelija train station as hundreds of migrants tried to board the trains.
The Macedonian police said they started blocking the refugees on the 30-mile frontier “for the security of citizens who live in the border areas and for better treatment of the migrants”.
On Saturday Rama Kabul from Syria walked along the railway track in the opposite direction from the station pleading with two Macedonian policemen, who were pushing her back with riot shields, to let her brother – trapped behind the razor fence on the border – join her.
“They took me out and left him there,” Ms Kabul said with tears in her eyes. “I just want to talk to him.” Macedonia/Greece Border Crisis
Other dramas played out in the Mediterranean north of Libya.
Italy’s coastguard said that by early afternoon it was co-ordinating rescues from four fishing boats crowded with migrants and from 14 smaller motorised rubber dinghies.
It was too soon to estimate the total numbers. But several days during the past weeks have seen close to 3,000 people arrive in a 24-hour period.
And the tide will not end. The Italian navy said that it had rescued a total of 1,700 people aboard five boats in the Mediterranean that day, after receiving requests for help from nearly two-dozen vessels. Operations are continuing to attempt the rescue of another 17 boats. A spokesperson for the navy said that the Interior Ministry had yet to say where the migrants will be taken.
Europe is struggling to cope with a record influx of refugees, as people flee wars in the Middle East.
The Mediterranean has become the world’s most deadly crossing point for migrants. More than 2,300 people have died this year trying to reach Europe by boat, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
