The Latest: Austrian minister says Balkan route is closed

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei stands between tents while visiting the Greek border camp near Idomeni, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Ai Weiwei has visited the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, where about 14,000 people, mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees, have found themselves stranded after Macedonia shut its border. The artist has been focusing on the plight of refugees in recent months, and had spent time living on the Greek island of Lesbos, where many of the refugees arrive from the nearby Turkish coast. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei stands between tents while visiting the Greek border camp near Idomeni, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Ai Weiwei has visited the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, where about 14,000 people, mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees, have found themselves stranded after Macedonia shut its border. The artist has been focusing on the plight of refugees in recent months, and had spent time living on the Greek island of Lesbos, where many of the refugees arrive from the nearby Turkish coast. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

By Associated Press March 10, 2016 2 min read

BERLIN (AP) – The Latest on the continuing issues of mass migration to Europe (all times local):

10:35 a.m.

Austria’s interior minister says refugees stuck at Greece’s border with Macedonia must understand that they have no chance of crossing. Johanna Mikl-Leitner told reporters in Brussels that “the most honest thing is to tell the refugees: it’s impossible to get through the Balkan route anymore. The Balkan route is closed.” She says: “The biggest problem is that these refugees still have hopes and expectations, and these hopes are being constantly fed.”

Mikl-Leitner said it is important to warn that the Balkan migrant route into Europe is closed because, she says, “that way you do not feed any hopes and expectations.”

In recent months hundreds of thousands of people have traveled the route north from Greece hoping to settle in places like Germany or Scandinavia.