The main flashpoints in Europe's migrant crisis are in Greece, where tens of thousands of refugees have arrived, and at border points on the way to Germany, which has thrown open its doors to asylum-seekers.
The typical route by land takes the migrants from Greece through the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary -- the first European Union (EU) member on the trek -- and then Austria, and finally Germany.
Here were the main developments on Tuesday:
- GREECE -
Greece's migration minister said the island of Lesbos was on the "verge of explosion", as some 20,000 refugees and migrants swamped authorities and services there.
Coastguards and riot police armed with batons fought to control a surging crowd of 2,500 migrants struggling to board an Athens-bound ferry at Lesbos' main port.
Meanwhile another 4,500 migrants and refugees massed on the island of Kos, which has already seen clashes between migrants and Greek police, who last month used heavy-handed tactics to control crowds.
The United Nations said several thousand migrants and refugees were arriving in Greece each day.
- MACEDONIA -
Hundreds of migrants poured over the frontier from Greece before lining up to register with the Macedonian authorities so that they could legally cross the former Yugoslav republic.
They then headed for the nearby town of Gevgelija to board trains and buses which would take them north to the border with Serbia.
On Monday, tensions were high at the border as police intervened with clubs to keep order.
- HUNGARY -
Several hundred migrants broke through police lines at the tense main border crossing with Serbia, local media reported.
The migrants were part of a group of 1,500 people who had been waiting for hours at a refugee collection point near the Roszke crossing, the first stop before people are brought to a registration camp.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised to speed up construction of an additional four-metre (13-foot) -high fence intended to staunch the flow of migrants across its borders.
A razor-wire barrier completed on August 29 along its 175-kilometre (110-mile) southern frontier has failed to stop large numbers of people climbing over or under it.
- GERMANY -
Thousands of asylum seekers continued to reach one of their main destinations, with police in Munich saying that since midnight, some 900 people had arrived. This is on top of 5,000 who got there Monday, and about 20,000 over the weekend.
Hundreds have been plunged into a bureaucratic nightmare at desperately crowded and overstretched centres for asylum seekers in Berlin.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy, Sigmar Gabriel, has said Germany "could surely deal with something in the order of half a million for several years."
Germany has previously said it expects to receive 800,000 asylum-seekers this year, four times the 2014 total.
The main flashpoints in Europe’s migrant crisis are in Greece, where tens of thousands of refugees have arrived, and at border points on the way to Germany, which has thrown open its doors to asylum-seekers.
The typical route by land takes the migrants from Greece through the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary — the first European Union (EU) member on the trek — and then Austria, and finally Germany.
Here were the main developments on Tuesday:
– GREECE –
Greece’s migration minister said the island of Lesbos was on the “verge of explosion”, as some 20,000 refugees and migrants swamped authorities and services there.
Coastguards and riot police armed with batons fought to control a surging crowd of 2,500 migrants struggling to board an Athens-bound ferry at Lesbos’ main port.
Meanwhile another 4,500 migrants and refugees massed on the island of Kos, which has already seen clashes between migrants and Greek police, who last month used heavy-handed tactics to control crowds.
The United Nations said several thousand migrants and refugees were arriving in Greece each day.
– MACEDONIA –
Hundreds of migrants poured over the frontier from Greece before lining up to register with the Macedonian authorities so that they could legally cross the former Yugoslav republic.
They then headed for the nearby town of Gevgelija to board trains and buses which would take them north to the border with Serbia.
On Monday, tensions were high at the border as police intervened with clubs to keep order.
– HUNGARY –
Several hundred migrants broke through police lines at the tense main border crossing with Serbia, local media reported.
The migrants were part of a group of 1,500 people who had been waiting for hours at a refugee collection point near the Roszke crossing, the first stop before people are brought to a registration camp.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised to speed up construction of an additional four-metre (13-foot) -high fence intended to staunch the flow of migrants across its borders.
A razor-wire barrier completed on August 29 along its 175-kilometre (110-mile) southern frontier has failed to stop large numbers of people climbing over or under it.
– GERMANY –
Thousands of asylum seekers continued to reach one of their main destinations, with police in Munich saying that since midnight, some 900 people had arrived. This is on top of 5,000 who got there Monday, and about 20,000 over the weekend.
Hundreds have been plunged into a bureaucratic nightmare at desperately crowded and overstretched centres for asylum seekers in Berlin.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy, Sigmar Gabriel, has said Germany “could surely deal with something in the order of half a million for several years.”
Germany has previously said it expects to receive 800,000 asylum-seekers this year, four times the 2014 total.
