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 At least 30,000 people have been trapped in various parts of
Greece from a cascade of border shutdowns further north blocking a
so-called 'Balkans corridor' used by more than a million people
since the migratory wave started a year ago.
There was no sign the pressure was easing on Tuesday, as thousands
of people queued up at Greece's northern border for Macedonia to
open a border gate.
Greek police say it has not opened in at least 24 hours, but heavy
rain and a declaration by EU leaders that the Balkans route was now
'shut' did not dampen their resolve.
"We will stay here even if we all die," said Kadriya Jasem, a
25-year-old from Aleppo in Syria among at least 13,000 people living
in squalor in makeshift camp in Idomeni, a village on the Greek side
of the border.
She held a four-month-old baby in her arms who she said needed a
doctor. "Please open the border, if only for the children," she
said.
 At an EU summit on Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
told leaders of the bloc Ankara was willing to take back all
migrants who enter Europe from Turkey in future in return for
financial aid, faster EU entry talks and quicker visa-free travel
for its citizens.
People fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond have
flooded into the EU since early 2015, most making the perilous sea
crossing from Turkey to Greece, then heading north through the
Balkans to Germany.
EU leaders aim to work out key details with Turkey by the next
scheduled summit on March 17-18. European Council President Donald
Tusk, said the outcome would show migrants that there was no longer
a path into Europe for people seeking a better life.
"The days of irregular migration to Europe are over," he told a
joint news conference with Davutoglu in the early hours of Tuesday.
ARRIVALS CONTINUE
Idomeni continued to see arrivals on Tuesday morning, albeit at a
slower pace, Reuters witnesses said.
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There was no let-up in the number of people arriving on outlying
islands, with the coastguard reporting 391 new arrivals in the past
24 hours.
NATO began patrols in the Aegean on Monday to support efforts to
locate migrant boats, overcoming territorial sensitivities in Greece
and Turkey to patrol in the waters of both NATO states.
It was not immediately clear whether Greek authorities planned to
remove the migrants from the Macedonian border; a similar operation
took place two weeks ago, but then Idomeni hosted about 1,000
migrants and not 13,000-plus.
Macedonia has restricted entry drastically over the past two-and-a
half weeks, starting by imposing restrictions and not allowing
Afghans across, then slowing down the admission rate and the hours
the border is open.
Babies sat on cardboard at the frontier on Tuesday morning. It had
rained heavily the night before, soaking through hundreds of tiny
tents designed for much milder weather. Many people were coughing.
"I'm afraid that we will die here, we are all sick," said Amina
Khalil, 20, also from Aleppo. "We are living like wild animals but
if we leave we will lose our priority number to go to Europe, if
Macedonia ever lets us pass."
(Writing By Michele Kambas; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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