March 04, 2016•Update: March 05, 2016
By Vasiliki Mitsiniotou
ATHENS
Only 320 people out of an estimated 11,000 refugees and migrants have managed to cross a congested border post between Greece and Macedonia in the past 24 hours.
Only 320 refugees crossed the northern Greek border in the last 24 hours at Idomeni while those left behind continue to stage protests.
Around 150 refugees and migrants occupied a railway line Thursday, protesting at delays at crossing the border from Greece to Macedonia.
Border restrictions have been imposed by west Balkan countries and have resulted in a backlog of around 11,000 people at a Greek camp police say.
Hundreds of refugees from all over Greece continue to head to Idomeni to get closer to the border and eventually continue their journey to northern and western Europe.
"This puts us in another phase” said Deputy Minister of Migration Ioannis Mouzalas in a TV broadcast on Thursday. “People will now be trapped in Greece. We have a duty to shelter them and stop them from being on the streets,” he said.
"Greece will do its best to offer its help to everyone," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Thursday in a joint news conference with European Council President Donald Tusk.
“Some other EU partners, unfortunately, turn out to be different” the Greek premier noted. “Greece will demand the full respect of the European treaty otherwise there will be sanctions for those who do not respect it," he added.
He also pointed out that stronger cooperation with Turkey is needed in order to limit refugee flows.
Tsipras has also spoken by phone with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu about the reduction and management of the refugee influx, an EU-Turkey summit on March 7 in Brussels as well as the fourth meeting of the Greece-Turkey High Cooperation Council which will take place on March 8 in Izmir.
Greek party leaders will meet Friday to discuss the refugee crisis and Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias will meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu.
