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| Marooned in Idomeni: despair as refugees find their way blocked | Marooned in Idomeni: despair as refugees find their way blocked |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Hope springs eternal. It is what keeps young men like Muzahmen al-Turki trekking to these muddy parts. It is what keeps young women like Aysla, with her children in tow, behind him. It is the force that propels them – like almost every refugee – past the shelters that come in the form of hastily erected camps, past the army barracks, sports halls and tent cities that would otherwise keep them in Greece. | |
| Hope is also what Europe’s politicians never considered: men, women and children, rucksacks on backs, blankets on head, walking purposefully through the wheatfields of northern Greece, pushing prams, pushing wheelchairs, putting one step in front of the other to get to Germany, the go-to country in the promised land of Europe. | |
| On Wednesday the way forward lay behind a razor-wire fence built at a border that could have resembled Colditz if it were not for the chaos erupting around it. | On Wednesday the way forward lay behind a razor-wire fence built at a border that could have resembled Colditz if it were not for the chaos erupting around it. |
| Related: Refugee crisis: EU allocates €700m in extra aid to cope with influx | Related: Refugee crisis: EU allocates €700m in extra aid to cope with influx |
| Beyond a moat littered with blankets, bottles and clothes was Macedonia, the tiny Balkan state where the transit route now stops. Troops, armed with teargas and plastic bullets, guarded its perimeter. Slovene and Polish forces stood next to them; water cannons, Humvees, armoured personnel carriers glimmered in the winter sun, while behind them all were the dogs – the latest addition to Macedonia’s reinforcement of its southern frontier. | Beyond a moat littered with blankets, bottles and clothes was Macedonia, the tiny Balkan state where the transit route now stops. Troops, armed with teargas and plastic bullets, guarded its perimeter. Slovene and Polish forces stood next to them; water cannons, Humvees, armoured personnel carriers glimmered in the winter sun, while behind them all were the dogs – the latest addition to Macedonia’s reinforcement of its southern frontier. |
| At midday, dozens of Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds – many stranded at the border for more than a week – pleaded with Greek policemen to let them through. For the first time since Monday, when Macedonian authorities abruptly cut off access, some refugees were allowed to continue their desperate journeys north. By mid-morning, 170 had been granted permission, passing through a cabin that passes for the frontier checkpoint. | At midday, dozens of Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds – many stranded at the border for more than a week – pleaded with Greek policemen to let them through. For the first time since Monday, when Macedonian authorities abruptly cut off access, some refugees were allowed to continue their desperate journeys north. By mid-morning, 170 had been granted permission, passing through a cabin that passes for the frontier checkpoint. |
| Among those imploring anyone who would listen was a heavily pregnant Syrian woman, Hiba Gniad, exhausted and hungry but determined to go on. “I am tired,” she said, explaining that she had left Damascus to join her husband in Berlin. “Please, it is very cold, please ask them to let me in, please, please help me.” | Among those imploring anyone who would listen was a heavily pregnant Syrian woman, Hiba Gniad, exhausted and hungry but determined to go on. “I am tired,” she said, explaining that she had left Damascus to join her husband in Berlin. “Please, it is very cold, please ask them to let me in, please, please help me.” |
| Holding his one-year-old daughter, howls of anguish emanating from the back of the crowd, Ali Barkel, a Syrian Kurd from Kobani, joined in: “Please, please help. We don’t want to stay here. We don’t understand. We want to go on.” | Holding his one-year-old daughter, howls of anguish emanating from the back of the crowd, Ali Barkel, a Syrian Kurd from Kobani, joined in: “Please, please help. We don’t want to stay here. We don’t understand. We want to go on.” |
| Barely 10 days ago the bottleneck that has left more than 10,000 marooned in Idomeni did not exist at all. For near-bankrupt Greece, it is the nightmare scenario. Panicked officials, with the support of the army, have worked around the clock to accommodate the newcomers in tent cities. | Barely 10 days ago the bottleneck that has left more than 10,000 marooned in Idomeni did not exist at all. For near-bankrupt Greece, it is the nightmare scenario. Panicked officials, with the support of the army, have worked around the clock to accommodate the newcomers in tent cities. |
| “We are experiencing the biggest refugee crisis after the second world war,” the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, declared on Monday. “The problem surpasses the powers of the country, the strength of a government and the innate weaknesses of the European Union.” | “We are experiencing the biggest refugee crisis after the second world war,” the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, declared on Monday. “The problem surpasses the powers of the country, the strength of a government and the innate weaknesses of the European Union.” |
| Only hours before, desperate crowds, chanting “open the border” had fled for cover as Macedonian police responded with batons and teargas after hundreds shook and rammed the fence down. | Only hours before, desperate crowds, chanting “open the border” had fled for cover as Macedonian police responded with batons and teargas after hundreds shook and rammed the fence down. |
| Fierce winter winds blow through the plains that are now home to the border post’s makeshift frontier camps. | Fierce winter winds blow through the plains that are now home to the border post’s makeshift frontier camps. |
| Every hour of every day more come, mostly men, women and children fleeing conflict in the Middle East, but also migrants from the Maghreb and other parts of Africa in search of better lives. | Every hour of every day more come, mostly men, women and children fleeing conflict in the Middle East, but also migrants from the Maghreb and other parts of Africa in search of better lives. |
| “No one told us the border was closed,” says Turki, a Syrian shopkeeper from Aleppo, pitching up at the camp with his wife, Aysla, and four children. | “No one told us the border was closed,” says Turki, a Syrian shopkeeper from Aleppo, pitching up at the camp with his wife, Aysla, and four children. |
| “Last night my family and all these people,” he says, pointing to a group of bleary-eyed men, women and children seated on plastic crates, “slept in the street in Thessaloniki. Can you imagine? We slept in the street. My home was bombed, my children have not been to school for a year and we are tired and very hungry. This is a big voyage, a voyage to save ourselves from hell.” | “Last night my family and all these people,” he says, pointing to a group of bleary-eyed men, women and children seated on plastic crates, “slept in the street in Thessaloniki. Can you imagine? We slept in the street. My home was bombed, my children have not been to school for a year and we are tired and very hungry. This is a big voyage, a voyage to save ourselves from hell.” |
| Until recently it was men – most young and unmarried – who predominantly made the journey. Women and children were rare sights among the asylum seekers risking their lives in rickety boats managed by smuggling rings off the Turkish coast. In recent weeks that has changed as fears of border closures have grown. More than 100,000 people have poured into Greece this year alone. | Until recently it was men – most young and unmarried – who predominantly made the journey. Women and children were rare sights among the asylum seekers risking their lives in rickety boats managed by smuggling rings off the Turkish coast. In recent weeks that has changed as fears of border closures have grown. More than 100,000 people have poured into Greece this year alone. |
| “Everyone who can is coming,” says Ahmed al-Saman, a 24-year-old French teacher who arrived with three of his friends via the Aegean island of Leros a month ago. “There is big anxiety Europe will say ‘no’. A lot of our families are in Germany. They want us to come.” | “Everyone who can is coming,” says Ahmed al-Saman, a 24-year-old French teacher who arrived with three of his friends via the Aegean island of Leros a month ago. “There is big anxiety Europe will say ‘no’. A lot of our families are in Germany. They want us to come.” |
| With the onset of spring everyone knows the numbers will swell. “And the more people come, the more the anger will grow,” says Christos Droungas, an employee with the Hellenic Red Cross. “It is only a matter of time before they revolt again if they are not let through.” | With the onset of spring everyone knows the numbers will swell. “And the more people come, the more the anger will grow,” says Christos Droungas, an employee with the Hellenic Red Cross. “It is only a matter of time before they revolt again if they are not let through.” |
| Unlike Greece’s six-year debt drama, the refugee crisis has not unfolded in stages but dropped with withering force. | Unlike Greece’s six-year debt drama, the refugee crisis has not unfolded in stages but dropped with withering force. |
| Yet although hard hit by their own economic woes – blighted by record levels of poverty and unemployment the country is enmeshed in its worst slump since the second world war – Greeks have responded with kindness of spirit. | Yet although hard hit by their own economic woes – blighted by record levels of poverty and unemployment the country is enmeshed in its worst slump since the second world war – Greeks have responded with kindness of spirit. |
| Fences may stretch across the face of Europe and border guards may be getting jittery but the sight of as many as 30,000 refugees now stranded in the country has, by and large, been met with equanimity. | Fences may stretch across the face of Europe and border guards may be getting jittery but the sight of as many as 30,000 refugees now stranded in the country has, by and large, been met with equanimity. |
| For many it is about memory of traumas past. “A lot of us in this part of Greece are the children of refugees,” says Babis Kalogeridies, a volunteer chef, stirring a 500-litre pot of rice and lentils at the camp. “We grew up with our grandmothers telling us stories of the hardships they suffered,” he adds. | For many it is about memory of traumas past. “A lot of us in this part of Greece are the children of refugees,” says Babis Kalogeridies, a volunteer chef, stirring a 500-litre pot of rice and lentils at the camp. “We grew up with our grandmothers telling us stories of the hardships they suffered,” he adds. |
| “These people are living with hope. It is what is driving their determination. We have lived with it too.” | “These people are living with hope. It is what is driving their determination. We have lived with it too.” |