Border village comes under fresh migrant pressure

The northern Greek border village of Idomeni is once more emerging as a gateway for thousands of migrants trying to reach other parts of Europe via North Macedonia, EU border agency Frontex says in a report.

Frontex says scores of migrants continually stream across the Greek-Turkish land border, despite the tightening of security in the spring, gathering in and around the village of under 400 residents.

“We have a problem again, they (migrants) are constantly arriving by train and on foot, waiting and hiding in the fields for an opportunity to cross the fence. There are constant thefts and houses are being burgled,” said Xanthi Soupli, the mayor of Idomeni, which had also come under tremendous pressure at the start of the migration crisis. 

“People here are scared and there is not enough police to protect us. We are worried that we are facing a new 2015,” she said. “This is how it all started then.”