Greece-Turkey migrant border crisis to deteriorate, says Frontex

The European Union’s border agency Frontex is expecting “mass migration flows” that will be difficult to stop, according to media reports.

“It will be difficult to stop the massive flow of people who have set out on their journey,” an internal Frontex report said, according to German daily Die Welt.  

“That is why we can expect an increase in pressure in the coming days — even in the event that Turkish authorities act to prevent people from crossing the border.”

Read more: Migrants clash with Greek police at Turkey, Europe border

Greece on high alert

Greece declared its highest alert level as a massive influx of refugees flowed to the border.

Land and sea patrols in the country’s northeast will be stepped up, according to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

In a bid to pressure the EU into supporting Turkey’s role in the conflict in Syria, Istanbul declared its border to Greece open for the millions of displaced people currently in the country.

Read more: What you need to know about the escalation in Syria’s Idlib

Thousands of migrants then came by bus, car, taxi and foot to the border with many attempting to cross into Greece. 

Only a few dozen actually made it across the border with Greece deploying heavy border control measures. 

Greek authorities said that in just 24 hours they thwarted 9,877 attempts to cross the northeastern land border. At least 68 people people were arrested on charges of illegal entry into the country.

About 13,000 people stayed overnight at the border during frost, according to the UN Organization for Migration.

As well as migrants massing at the land border, there has an influx of people attempting to reach the Eastern Aegean Islands, with more than 1,000 people arriving since Sunday morning. 

A child died and 47 migrants were rescued after a boat capsized near the island of Lesbos, the Greek coastguard said on Monday.

The massing of migrants has caused fears of a repeat of the 2015 European migrant crisis, in which more than 1 million people crossed into Europe.

aw/stb (dpa, AFP, epd, AP)

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/greece-turkey-migrant-border-crisis-to-deteriorate-says-frontex/a-52603580?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf