Hundreds of migrants march out of Greek camp, cross to Macedonia

Hundreds of desperate migrants were stopped by Macedonian troops Monday after wading thigh-deep through a surging river to cross the border from Greece, where thousands have been left stranded after Balkan states slammed Europe’s migrant door shut. A Macedonian police spokeswoman said the several hundred migrants who had crossed the border would be sent back to Greece.

This is not a proper camp. People are exhausted, tired and running out of patience.

Babar Baloch, regional spokesman for U.N. refugee agency UNHCR

More than 1,000 migrants stranded in a tent city in northern Greece streamed out of the camp, searching for a way around the twin border fences Macedonia built to keep them out. When they reached a river, the migrants stretched a rope across it and formed a human chain to cross. They carried children across on their shoulders. Once they crossed the border, Macedonian soldiers rounded them up and put the migrants in army trucks. The crossing put the migrant issue back in the spotlight days before leaders from the European Union and Turkey are due to meet again to seal an agreement intended to keep migrants in Turkey from moving to Europe through Greece.

Macedonia needs and deserves help and assistance from the European Union because actually they’ve been protecting the southern border of the European Union.

Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Foreign Minister

refugees