The domino effect - new border controls leave migrants stuck in Greece

The domino effect - new border controls leave migrants stuck in Greece
By Euronews
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As more and more border controls are introduced amid Europe’s migrant crisis, dominoes are falling all the way to Greece. Around 800 Afghan migrants

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As more and more border controls are introduced amid Europe’s migrant crisis, dominoes are falling all the way to Greece.

Around 800 Afghan migrants are stuck near the Greek border town of Idomeni, after the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia started blocking their entry.

Some have been so desperate, they have tried to make it over the wire fence, only to be quickly arrested.

“When we ask to leave us to cross the border, they said ‘this is temporary,’ but it’s been four days that we are here,” said one man.

Another added: “We don’t need food, just we want to cross the borders.”

GREECE – Migrants and refugees wait to cross the Greek-Macedonian border near Idomeni. By SakisMitrolidis</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AFP?src=hash">#AFP</a> <a href="https://t.co/Po85utE8Ee">pic.twitter.com/Po85utE8Ee</a></p>&mdash; Frédérique Geffard (fgeffardAFP) February 22, 2016

Further north, hundreds more Afghan migrants who have made it into Macedonia are waiting to get into Serbia. But it is also said to have blocked their entry.

Meanwhile, the Slovenian army is being sent to guard the border with Croatia to help police control entries, under new legislation passed on Monday.

And the migrants continue to arrive in Greece, a country normally used a launchpad into more prosperous western Europe. But the beefed up border controls further north now stand in their way.

With the dominoes falling, Athens is worried the number of migrants trapped here will just keep rising.

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