Page 9 - Aruba Today
P. 9
WORLD NEWS 9
Tuesday 15 March 2016
Migrants defy rain, rivers and Europe’s border closures
C. KANTOURIS making us do — look at A woman is supported by two men while crossing a river as migrants attempt to reach Macedonia
K. TESTORIDES all these women and chil- on a route that would bypass the border fence, Monday, March 14, 2016. Hundreds of migrants
Associated Press dren.” and refugees walked out of an overcrowded camp on the Greek-Macedonian border Monday,
HAMILO, Greece (AP) — Al-Almad also walked from determined to use a dangerous crossing to head north.
Defying Europe’s border Idomeni, where 14,000
closures, more than 2,000 people remain camped (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
migrants and refugees out.
stranded in Greece braved In chaotic scenes at the
torrential rain and waded nearby border village of
across a fast-flowing river Hamilo, Greek and inter-
to walk into neighboring national volunteers helped
Macedonia. migrants across the river,
In dramatic scenes, refu- using ropes to make sure
gees held children, baby they weren’t swept away
strollers and their belong- by the rapids.
ings over their heads as Macedonia’s border was
they crossed thigh-deep closed following transit re-
in the water, while elderly strictions imposed by EU-
migrants clutched ropes member Austria.
placed by volunteers to Underscoring the risks, po-
help them across. lice in Macedonia said the
But their time in Macedonia bodies of one man and two
and planned journey on- women, all Afghans, were
ward toward Western Eu- found Monday in the Suva
rope might be short-lived. Reka river near the border
Macedonian soldiers and with Greece. Twenty mi-
police detained hundreds grants crossed safely and
of people after they had another three were hospi-
just crossed from Greece talized, authorities said.
and put them into trucks, “This is the situation in which
authorities said. Their fate people have become des-
remained uncertain, and perate and frustrated,”
police refused to give fur- said Ljubinka Brasnarska, a
ther details. spokeswoman in Macedo-
Monday’s events were nia for U.N. refugee agen-
the biggest challenge to cy UNHCR.
border closures since the “The border restrictions
route from Greece to cen- imposed by the countries
tral Europe was sealed have forced people to
off 10 days ago, leaving take desperate actions.”
more than 40,000 people Parts of Macedonia’s bor-
stranded in Greece — and der fence is made up solely
it came days before Euro- of coils of razor wire, while
pean Union leaders try to breaks in the barrier also
hammer out a deal with occur at rivers and moun-
Turkey to try and hold more tain slopes on the border,
refugees there. mainly to the west of Ido-
The migrants walked out meni.
of the overcrowded camp A cap on migrants imposed
of Idomeni on the Greek- by Austria last month set off
Macedonian border Mon- a domino effect of border
day, traveling west on foot. closures across the Balkans,
Syrian Ibrahim al-Almad leaving thousands strand-
said he had been stuck in ed in Greece.
Greece for a month. Despite the closures, more
“My brother is in Stuttgart, 8,500 refugees and mi-
in Germany, and I want to grants traveled to the
join him,” he said, point- Greek islands from Turkey
ing toward other refugees. last week, according to the
“Look at what they are UNHCR.q
