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 From its northern frontier with Macedonia to its port of Pireaus
in the south, Greece was inundated with refugees and migrants after
border shutdowns through the Balkans route to central and northern
Europe trapped thousands.
At Idomeni, a small community on the border with Macedonia, Reuters
witnesses saw hundreds of families walking toward the frontier to
join an estimated 3,000 more at a makeshift camp where many pitched
tents in a field close to razor wire fence.
More than 500 km further south, hundreds of people were temporarily
accommodated at a disused airport west of Athens. Sleeping mats were
strewn across the terminal among biscuit wrappers as many women sat
on the floor, some weeping.
"Planes bombed our homes, it was dangerous to stay there," said
mother of three Rajiya Zara, 38, nine months pregnant. "I'm afraid
for my children."
 Between 300 and 400 people refused to stay at the airport, and took
off on their own. "Help Us," a large piece of paper held by one
said. "We are human, open the borders", read another, scrawled on a
sleeping mat.
Greece asked its passenger ferry companies and travel agencies on
Friday to cut back on bringing migrants and refugees from frontline
islands to the mainland and said its own chartered ships would stay
put for a few days.
The moves, described by Greece's shipping minister as temporary, are
designed to stem a flow of people mostly fleeing from violence in
the Middle East.
Most refugees arrive in the European Union after a short but at
times dangerous journey by small boats from Turkey to nearby Greece
islands such as Lesbos.
Greece on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Austria in anger over
the border closures and has threatened to block European Union
decision-making unless the bloc comes up with concerted action to
deal with the crisis.
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"We have taken some actions because of border closings, including an
increase of temporary shelter spaces and a relative slowdown of the
transport of migrants from the islands to the port of Piraeus,"
Shipping Minister Thodoris Dritsas told Skai TV.
He said three ships chartered specifically to move migrants to the
Greek mainland would be docked at the islands and accommodate
refugees for "two or three days".
"It is a small scale slowdown (of flows to the mainland)," he said.
Macedonia, to the immediate north, is accepting only Iraqis and
Syrians, witnesses say, with Afghans being turned back. Many of
those who traveled the 550 km journey north only to be turned away
sat in the stinking and overcrowded airport terminal on Friday,
pondering their fate.
"I want to go to Germany," said 18-year-old Nadershah Ahmedi, a
student from Afghanistan.
"When we came to Greece we heard the borders to Macedonia are closed
for Afghanis. Why can Syrians and Iraqis pass but not us?"
(Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, George Georgiopoulos
and Alkis Konstantinidis; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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