As migrants from across the Middle East and Africa continue to make the journey to western Europe by the thousands, the flow of refugees traveling the “Balkan corridor” is now being constricted. Austria and some Balkan states have recently begun to cap the number of migrants allowed to enter their borders, and further restrict who is allowed to pass. Macedonia is limiting the entry of refugees to several hundred per day, and allowing only refugees from Syria and Iraq to enter. The bottleneck has resulted in a swift buildup of approximately 10,000 refugees and migrants along the Greece-Macedonia border fence, with Greek authorities warning that the number could climb to 70,000 by next month. Frustrated migrants have staged numerous protests, in some cases tearing down fences and gates, to be met with tear gas and Macedonian riot police.
Stranded on the Macedonian Border
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Read moreA migrant grips razor wire at a gate on the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni, on March 1, 2016, where thousands of people are stranded. #
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Read moreStranded refugees and migrants try to break a Greek police cordon in order to approach the border fence at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreFamilies walk through fields towards the Greece-Macedonia border on March 2, 2016, in Idomeni, Greece. #
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Read moreA view of the barbed wire fence along the Greece-Macedonia border on March 1, 2016, near Idomeni, Greece. #
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Read moreA man holds the hand of a young girl as they walk through fields as refugees continue to arrive at the Greek-Macedonian border on March 1, 2016. #
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Read moreMigrants stand next to the Greek-Macedonian border fence, near the Greek village of Idomeni, on March 1, 2016. #
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Read moreMigrants charge their mobile phones with a generator as they wait to be allowed to cross the border to Macedonia, in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni on March 1, 2016. #
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Read moreA woman hangs out clothes next to her tent as refugees and migrants wait to be allowed to cross the border to Macedonia in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni on March 1, 2016. #
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Read moreA girl looks out from a tent at a relocation camp where stranded refugees and migrants wait to cross the Greek-Macedonian border on March 1, 2016. #
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Read moreProtesting refugees and migrants block railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonian border as they chant “open the borders” in Idomeni, Greece, on February 28, 2016. #
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Read moreStranded refugees and migrants try to break a fence from the Greek side of the border as Macedonian policemen push them back, near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreIn this photo taken from the Macedonian side, stranded refugees and migrants in the northern Greek village of Idomeni approach the Greek-Macedonian border as they try to enter Macedonia on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreMigrants try to break through a border-fence into Macedonia near Idomeni on February 29 , 2016. #
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Read moreStranded refugees and migrants try to break a fence on the border as Macedonian policemen use their shields, near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreHundreds of migrants try today to break through the barrier that divides them from Macedonia on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreStranded refugees and migrants try to break through the border fence as Macedonian policemen push them back, near Gevgelija, on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreMigrants try to break through a border fence into Macedonia near Idomeni on February 29 , 2016. #
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Read moreStranded refugees and migrants break the border fence and throw stones from the Greek side as Macedonian policemen use tear gas, on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreRefugees run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas at a group of the refugees and migrants who tried to push their way into Macedonia on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreA man helps a boy who collapsed after inhaling tear gas, after Macedonian police fired tear gas at hundreds of Iraqi and Syrian migrants who tried to break through the Greek border fence in Idomeni, on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreA refugee pours water on the face of a woman who collapsed after losing her child in a panicked crowd after Macedonian police used tear gas against refugees at the Greek-Macedonian border on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreA woman carries a child on the Greek side of the border as they run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas on February 29, 2016. #
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Read moreMacedonian police units patrol beside the two-line protective fence along the border line between Macedonia and Greece, near Gevgelija, on March 1, 2016. #
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Read moreRefugees cross the Greek-Macedonian border near the town of Gevgelija on March 2, 2016. Macedonia allowed around 250 migrants to cross its border with Greece on March 2, as 10,000 more were left waiting in miserable conditions, Greek officials and AFP reporters at the scene said. #
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Read moreMigrants waits to enter Macedonia from Greece near the town of Gevgelija, on March 2, 2016. #
Visar Kryeziu / AP
