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Trapped in the new Greek archipelago with no way out

06 May 2016

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"‘It’s all lies,’ Massoud (not his real name) taps angrily on his smartphone screen; there are dozens of failed calls to the Skype address of the Greek Asylum service. In Greece you register an asylum claim by Skype. Massoud is from Syria and has been in Idomeni camp for 2 months and 10 days.

People have been blockaded in Greece since Macedonia shut its border with Greece entirely for refugees on 9 March this year. At the same time many people are finding it impossible to lodge asylum applications in Greece - and therefore have no chance of ‘relocation’ to another EU country. The EU plan to relocate refugees to other EU countries appears to be bogged down.

By 17 April, UNHCR said some 46,000 refugees are stranded in Greece in an archipelago of camps from Athens to the Macedonian border in the North. Meanwhile, in the islands the deportations to Turkey under the ‘one-for-one’ deal between the EU and Turkey started on 4 April."

See the full article: Trapped in the new Greek archipelago with no way out (OpenDemocracy, link)

See also: Migration Minister: Greece Will Keep 30,000-40,000 Refugees (Greek Reporter, link): "Greek Deputy Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas said that 30,000-40,000 refugees will stay in Greece for a long time.

Mouzalas headed a meeting on the migration issue in Thessaloniki. He said that the makeshift migrant camp in Idomeni, on the Greek-FYROM border, will be evacuated by May 30."

And: Greece: Police clash with refugees as they clear Idomeni train tracks (Ruptly TV, link to YouTube)

More stories and updates: Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (6.5.16): laetst Commission statistics, update on the situation in Hungary and more

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