Macedonia shuts border gates to migrants

Macedonia declared a "state of emergency" Thursday and said it would mobilize the army to control an unprecedented influx of migrants from crossing its border from Greece. The move reverses previously lax border controls as thousands of refugees continue to arrive.

"Due to an increasing pressure on the southern border... it is estimated that bigger and more efficient control is needed in the region where illegal border crossings from the Greek side have been massively registered," the government statement said, the AFP news agency reported.

Thousands stranded at border

The move has left around 3,000 of migrants stranded in no-man's land Thursday near the Macedonian town of Gevgelija where refugees have been catching trains to the Serbian border on their way Hungary, which is often their first stop inside the European Union.

Nearly 39,000 migrants, most of them Syrians, have been registered passing through the former Yugoslavian republic in the past month, twice as many as the month before.

Meanwhile, after weeks of high temperatures, the weather in Macedonia is expected to become unstable with thunderstorms forecast.

The majority of the refugees are fleeing conflict in the Middle East and plan to seek asylum in wealthier European countries.

jar/kms (AP, Reuters, dpa, AFP)