Migrants stranded at the northern Idomeni border camp in Greece expressed dismay on Friday (March 18) over a flyer circulated among them by Greek authorities telling them to move to reception centers.
Greek police distributed a flyer to the thousands of migrants in the camp on Friday telling them the border was closed and they should move to official shelters.
“When we read the flyer, our spirit was broken, the people are all frustrated. If they don’t open the border you will see something from the Syrian people that you have never seen before. The Syrian people are on edge, and if they get angrier that won’t be good. They are on edge because the children can’t take it anymore. I am a young man, and I am sick and can’t handle it, how will the women and the children take it?” said Ahmad, who has been in the camp for five days.
Many of the migrants said they are not going anywhere.
Luay Ammar from Aleppo, said staying in Greece in a reception center was not an option.
“No no no, we won’t accept that, we won’t stay here. We went from Syria to Turkey and from Turkey to Greece so that we could get to Europe. We don’t want to stay here, because this country can barely take care of its own people,” he said.
Migrants don’t want to move to the reception centers in fear of missing their chance to cross the border.
They are waiting for the conclusion of a meeting of EU leaders with Turkey in Brussels, hoping a plan being devised to tackle the migrant issue in Greece may include a decision to open the borders towards Germany, where most of them want to go.
But that is looking unlikely and countries on the route towards Germany have imposed border controls.
“I was shocked today, yesterday we had hope that the meeting they are having today will lead to the end of our troubles, that they would open the border. I have family in Germany, and my son is in Venice, all I want is to get to them, they can take care of me, I don’t need anyone to take care of me. Just open the border so I can get to them and they will take care of me,” said Feryal Aref from Aleppo.
Conditions at Idomeni are deteriorating by the day and aid agencies are working hard to support migrants.
On Friday, Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) began assembling temporary iron beds for the migrants to sleep on, AP reported.
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