Migrants Rush Macedonian Border as Chaos Separates Families
Migrants Rush Macedonian Border as Chaos Separates Families
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A migrant child looks up in distress as a group tries to break through a police cordon at the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Valdrin Xhemaj—EPA
Migrants who were trying to cross from Greece into Macedonia clashed with police at the border on Wednesday, protesting the chaos that left families separated on either side of a divider.
Photographer Valdrin Xhemaj described a frenzied scene to TIME, saying police had permitted groups of 50 people at a time to cross the border into Macedonia, inadvertently splitting up some families. Amid the confusion, migrants rushed the border, trying to reconnect with relatives and friends who had already been allowed across. The blistering Mediterranean sun did little to aid the situation, Xhemaj said.
“It’s hard to attack anybody,” he said of police treatment of migrants. “They were trying to do their best.”
In one particularly heart-wrenching moment (which Xhemaj captured in slide 4 above), a young boy looked up at his father in the midst of panic. His father tried to convey a sense of confidence in the midst of the turmoil, Xhemaj said.
The migrants’ trip through Greece, a member of the European Union, and into Macedonia is one of many legs en route to the promise of work in western Europe.
A ship belonging to Italian authorities approaches one of three migrant rafts some 120 miles off the Italian coast, about 40 miles from Libya, on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliItalian authorities are seen during an operation some 120 miles off the Italian coast that rescued more than 100 migrants coming from Libya on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliA boat of migrants that set off from Libya, as seen from a ship belonging to Italian authorities, during a rescue operation on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliA member of Italy's Guardia di Finanza brings a migrant aboard after they were rescued from an inflatable boat, which originated in Libya and was found some 120 miles off the Italian coast in the Mediterranean, on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliImmigrants from Bangladesh on a ship belonging to Italy's financial police after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliAn officer with Italy's financial police speaks to colleagues on a radio from the command cabin during a migrant rescue operation—which also involved the Italian and Irish navies—some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliSmoke billows from a migrant boat, set ablaze by Italian authorities so other smugglers don't use it, after they rescued more than 100 people some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliRescued immigrants are covered with thermal sheets in Lampedusa after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliAn African man disembarks a ship belonging to Italy's financial police after being rescued with about 100 other people in an operation some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliAn African boy stands covered with a thermal sheet in Lampedusa after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliA migrant woman holds a baby as a group waits to cross the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Alexandros Avarmidis—ReutersMigrants rush to cross into Macedonia after Macedonian police allowed a small group of people to pass through a passageway, as they tried to regulate the flow of migrants at the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Ognen Teofilovksi—ReutersMigrants try to break through a police cordon at the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Valdrin Xhemaj—EPAA migrant child looks up in distress as a group tries to break through a police cordon at the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Valdrin Xhemaj—EPAA man runs with a child after crossing the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015. Ognen Teofilovksi—ReutersA Macedonian policeman carries a child across the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Valdrin Xhemaj—EPAA Macedonian policeman grabs at a migrant child attempting to cross the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Valdrin Xhemaj—EPAMigrants wait to cross the Macedonian-Greek border on Sept. 2, 2015.Alexandros Avarmidis—Reuters
