Greece protests to Austria over migrant meet

AFP, Greece: Greece angrily protested to Austria on Tuesday after being left out of a planned Balkans migration meeting, as it began sending hundreds of Afghans from its clogged northern border back to Athens.
The new emergency came as Greek authorities had barely completed migrant registration centres on the islands and relocation camps for refugees.
These facilities in Athens were already pushed to capacity after Macedonia on Sunday abruptly closed its border to Afghans and introduced more stringent document checks for Syrians and Iraqis seeking to travel to northern and western Europe.
The move caused a bottleneck at the Greek-Macedonian border -- where 4,000 people were waiting to get through on Tuesday -- and forced Greek police to keep migrants and refugees who had just landed at the port of Piraeus from travelling to the frontier to avoid exacerbating the situation.
At the border, Afghan families boarded nearly a dozen buses for the long trip back south to the capital, where they will be temporarily housed in relocation camps, local police said.
On Monday, some 600 Afghans had protested on the railway line between Greece and Macedonia. Three of them climbed the border fence and were arrested by Macedonian police.
Skopje introduced the measure on Sunday, following decisions by countries further up the migrant route to turn back groups of Afghans.
In addition, a Greek migration ministry source on Tuesday said nearly 4,000 people who landed at Piraeus had been shared out between available facilities in Athens, but hundreds more were arriving on a daily basis on ferries from the islands.
And Macedonian border officials were now only allowing passage to Syrians and Iraqis with passports, rejecting other identity papers furnished under EU regulations to refugees without passports at the island registration points, the official added.
"(The Macedonians) are rejecting EU screening documents, it's a scandal," the Greek official said.
More than 100,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy so far this year, and 413 have lost their lives trying, the International Organisation for Migration said Tuesday. Last year, the 100,000 mark was only topped about half way through the year, IOM spokesman Itayi Viriri told reporters.
Philippe Leclerc, head of the UN refugee agency in Greece, told AFP that Afghans currently make up around one third of the 2,000 people who land from neighbouring Turkey on a daily average.
"We risk having three very difficult weeks ahead" because of the Macedonian border blockade, he said during a visit to the island of Lesbos, adding that Greece's migrant facilities cannot handle the load.
With all of Europe scrambling for solutions to the continent's greatest migration challenge since World War II, Austria has invited interior and foreign ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia to a Wednesday meeting called "Managing Migration Together".

 

Greece protests to Austria over migrant meet

AFP, Greece: Greece angrily protested to Austria on Tuesday after being left out of a planned Balkans migration meeting, as it began sending hundreds of Afghans from its clogged northern border back to Athens. The new emergency came as Greek authorities had barely completed migrant registration centres on the islands and relocation camps for refugees. These facilities in Athens were already pushed to capacity after Macedonia on Sunday abruptly closed its border to Afghans and introduced more stringent document checks for Syrians and Iraqis seeking to travel to northern and western Europe. The move caused a bottleneck at the Greek-Macedonian border -- where 4,000 people were waiting to get through on Tuesday -- and forced Greek police to keep migrants and refugees who had just landed at the port of Piraeus from travelling to the frontier to avoid exacerbating the situation. At the border, Afghan families boarded nearly a dozen buses for the long trip back south to the capital, where they will be temporarily housed in relocation camps, local police said. On Monday, some 600 Afghans had protested on the railway line between Greece and Macedonia. Three of them climbed the border fence and were arrested by Macedonian police. Skopje introduced the measure on Sunday, following decisions by countries further up the migrant route to turn back groups of Afghans. In addition, a Greek migration ministry source on Tuesday said nearly 4,000 people who landed at Piraeus had been shared out between available facilities in Athens, but hundreds more were arriving on a daily basis on ferries from the islands. And Macedonian border officials were now only allowing passage to Syrians and Iraqis with passports, rejecting other identity papers furnished under EU regulations to refugees without passports at the island registration points, the official added. (The Macedonians) are rejecting EU screening documents, its a scandal, the Greek official said. More than 100,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy so far this year, and 413 have lost their lives trying, the International Organisation for Migration said Tuesday. Last year, the 100,000 mark was only topped about half way through the year, IOM spokesman Itayi Viriri told reporters. Philippe Leclerc, head of the UN refugee agency in Greece, told AFP that Afghans currently make up around one third of the 2,000 people who land from neighbouring Turkey on a daily average. We risk having three very difficult weeks ahead because of the Macedonian border blockade, he said during a visit to the island of Lesbos, adding that Greeces migrant facilities cannot handle the load. With all of Europe scrambling for solutions to the continents greatest migration challenge since World War II, Austria has invited interior and foreign ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia to a Wednesday meeting called Managing Migration Together.