GEVGELIJA (AFP) – Hundreds of migrants were pouring over the frontier between Greece and Macedonia on Tuesday as they made their way towards the European Union following a day of tensions with police.
Whole families were lining up to register with the Macedonian authorities so they could legally cross the former Yugoslav republic, among them a father carrying a child and a mother hauling a suitcase containing a few meagre belongings, an AFP photographer said.
One was even carrying his dog.
Under the watchful eye of Macedonian police wearing bulletproof vests, they crossed the border, several dozen at a time.
They then headed the nearby town of Gevgelija to board trains and buses which would take them north to the border with Serbia. They would then continue northwards to Hungary, the gateway to the European Union.
By mid afternoon, around a thousand migrants had taken the train northwards, with no reports of scuffles that had prompted police to intervene on Monday.
Some 7,000 people crossed from Greece into Macedonia on Monday, the UN s refugee agency said.
Meanwhile, at Macedonia s northern border with Serbia, the situation was also “stable”, a Red Cross volunteer told AFP.
“Since this morning, we have received 16 buses from … Miratovac and some 200 migrants arrived on foot,” Agon Ajeti said, referring to a nearby border town and describing the numbers as similar to those in recent days.
Macedonian officials have issued 64,522 permits to cross the country since June 19, police said on Monday.