Macedonia closes the Balkan refugee route
As of midnight, the Republic of Macedonia has closed its border to refugees, not allowing their entry. This decision followed the decisions by Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia not to accept any more refugees. This decision brings an end to the Balkan route for refugees.
In the past 24 hours, no refugees have been allowed to enter the Republic of Macedonia from Greece.
The Ministry of Interior said that no temporary permits have been issued for refugees, but a large number of them are blocked on the other side of the border.
According to the data of the Ministry of Interior, from January 1 until yesterday, 90 000 refugees have entered the Republic of Macedonia. A total of 44 000 were from Syria, 26 000 were from Afghanistan and more than 18 000 from Iraq. Out of them, only 30 have sought asylum.
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