Economically struggling, Greece begins moving refugees out of Idomeni camp
ATHENS, Greece — The Greek authorities began moving hundreds of refugees Tuesday out of a sprawling makeshift camp near the village of Idomeni, on the border with Macedonia, a crucial point on the Balkan trail for migrants that has been closed off for months.
A police operation started around 6 a.m., and by early evening more than 2,000 refugees had been taken by bus to state-run encampments near Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece.
Riot police officers were stationed outside the area, as there were concerns that the operation would lead to unrest. But a spokesman for the Greek police, Lt. Col. Theodoros Chronopoulos, said the evacuation of the camp, which had 20,000 migrants at its peak in March and until Tuesday morning about 8,000, most of them Syrians, was carried out “completely smoothly” and would continue through the end of the week.
A police helicopter monitored the evacuation. Journalists were denied access to the camp to avoid “exciting” the refugees, according to authorities.
The refugees had been living in squalid conditions for months, hoping to be allowed to cross the border and head toward a better life in Northern or Western Europe, a vain hope as the frontier has been closed to all migrants.
Chronopoulos said 2,500 people had left the camp in the past two or three weeks, in response to gentle but firm urging by authorities.
Katy Athersuch, a communications officer for Doctors Without Borders, one of the aid organizations working at the camp, said the situation was “very relaxed.” But she expressed concerns about the lack of information for refugees worried about their fate.
“These people have been sitting in a camp for 2½ months, and now they’re being put on a bus with no real explanation about what’s happening,” she said. “They’re scared.”
More than 1 million migrants have entered the European Union via Greece since the beginning of last year, putting immense pressure on the country as it tries to cope with the influx while simultaneously struggling to put its battered economy in order.