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Thousands of migrants still trapped on Macedonian border

Migrants wait to enter Macedonia from Greece on the border line with Greece, near the southern Macedonia's town of Gevgelija, Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. About 39,000 people, mostly Syrian migrants, have been registered as passing through Macedonia in the past month, twice as many as the month before. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) Migrants wait to enter Macedonia from Greece on the border line with Greece, near the southern Macedonia's town of Gevgelija, Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. About 39,000 people, mostly Syrian migrants, have been registered as passing through Macedonia in the past month, twice as many as the month before. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

By Associated Press August 22, 2015 1 min read

GEVGELIJA, Macedonia (AP) – Thousands of rain-soaked migrants remain trapped in a no man’s land between Greece and Macedonia as Macedonian police continue to block the frontier, preventing them from heading north to the European Union.

Overnight, police let only small groups of families with children cross the border by walking to a railway station in the Macedonian town of Gevgelija, where most take trains to the border with Serbia before heading toward EU-member Hungary.

Those who could not cross, including many women and children, spent the rainy and chilly night in the open.

Police fired stun grenades and clashed with the migrants who tried to rush over the border on Friday, a day after Macedonia’s government declared a state of emergency on the frontier to stop the human tide.