IDOMENI, Greece — After welcoming hundreds of thousands of people, Europe seems to be finally closing its doors.
The thousands of people massing at Greece’s northern border are incredulous they won’t be allowed onward to its prosperous countries, but after a year of dithering, European leaders seem resolved to keep all but a few from going any further.
“This is horrible, unbelievable, unbearable. There is war in my country, and they are closing the border,” said Mahmoud Hassan, a 23-year-old Syrian. “Where are we supposed to go? Please, if you can do anything, help us. The situation is very, very terrible.”
A relentless rain Wednesday after an overnight thunderstorm added to the misery in the overflowing camp at Idomeni, in which thousands of small tents were set up in nearby fields and along railway tracks. The camp turned into a muddy mess, with refugees huddling in tents and under ponchos to ward off the worst of the wet and cold. Parents covered their children with whatever they could, sometimes resorting to plastic bags. In the brief intervals in the rain, long lines formed for sandwiches, tea and soup.
EU and Turkish leaders agreed at a summit Monday to the broad outlines of a deal that would outsource Europe’s refugee emergency. They said people arriving in Greece having fled war or poverty would be sent back to Turkey unless they apply for asylum. For every migrant sent back, the EU would take in one Syrian refugee, thus trying to prevent the need for people to set out on dangerous sea journeys, often arranged by unscrupulous smugglers.
But Greece has a slow asylum process, and a crippling six-year financial crisis that has left unemployment at about 25 percent. Few of those stuck in Idomeni could envisage a future in Greece as a viable option.
After the summit, countries along the Balkan route decided to allow through only people with valid EU visas; no one has crossed through the gate in the razor wire-reinforced fence in Idomeni since 6 a.m. Monday.
For the nearly 14,000 people in and around the camp, the news about the border closures was crushing, with many just unable to fathom how Europe could turn away people fleeing war. A few dozen sat on the railway tracks in protest, a frequent occurrence in the camp.
“We’re not here to stay. We are here to pass only,” said Sami Yanes, a 24-year-old information technology student from the Syrian capital of Damascus hoping to continue his studies in Germany. “We are going to keep protesting and keep doing what we are doing until they know we are human beings and we deserve simple human rights,” he said.
The deteriorating conditions in the camp, where the sound coughing is as ubiquitous as the sight of people trying to start camp fires with sodden logs and branches ripped from trees, was too much for some. Several buses headed for camps in and around Athens departed Tuesday and Wednesday from Idomeni carrying those who could no longer bear the mud, rain and cold.
Others were hesitant to get on buses without knowing what they would find on the other side. Tariq Mohammed, a 27-year-old from Aleppo traveling with his wife and daughters, aged 5 and 2, was one of them.
“I don’t know what will happen to us,” he said, standing in the rising mud.
Although most people say they want to go to Germany, which they see as a welcoming country, Mohammed said he would happily go to any European country that would take in his family. Staying in Greece wasn’t an option because there was no work, he said.
“I need to work, to have a life for my children and family,” he said, the desperation visible on his face. “You need life.”
