Macedonian guards have been filmed threatening refugees with batons and at times appearing to strike them as thousands of people, including many parents with young children, gathered in muddy fields on the border with Greece.
In torrential rain on Thursday, about 4,000 people were trying to cross Greece’s northern border into Macedonia at the Greek town of Idomeni. Greek border police said it was the largest single wave of refugees and migrants they had seen so far. The refugees, many of them from Syria, had wrapped themselves in plastic bin bags to protect themselves from the downpour.
Macedonian police formed a human chain on the border to limit the flow of refugees into more manageable groups, letting families with young children cross first. But in seeking to maintain order, guards in battle fatigues ordered the refugees to sit in the mud, sometimes shoved people back and at times appeared to hit people with batons. By early afternoon, all had crossed but thousands more were on their way.
In Hungary, at Budapest’s Keleti train station, hundreds of migrants waited to travel to Austria or Germany. Two dozen police in surgical masks and gloves blocked access to platforms for more than 400 people holding tickets to Vienna. Police escorted non-refugee passengers to trains directly beside migrants, who were supposed to stay on one side of the police tape.
Volunteers helping migrants in Hungary say conditions are a “disaster” at the border with Serbia and are concerned that colder weather could increase the number of sick refugees.
The European Parliament has backed the plan of EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker to spread 160,000 refugees in Hungary, Greece and Italy across other member states. EU ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting on the issue next Monday and several eastern EU nations have already voiced their opposition to a mandatory allocation of refugees.
Romania’s president says there is “no way” his country will accept the extra number of migrants the commission has proposed. Romania has been asked to accept 6,351 people. Leaders say that is too much after they initially agreed to accept some 1,785.
