IDOMENI, Greece — Migrants in Greece staged protests Wednesday at the country’s border with Macedonia and on islands near the Turkish coast, with officials still unsure when an international agreement to reduce migration will take full effect.
Several hundred protesters who were camped out at the border disrupted food distribution by charities in the sprawling tent camp that has sprouted near the village of Idomeni. They demanded the border be reopened.
Some thought the protest was misguided.
‘‘I think it’s wrong that they’re protesting in this way. We must all get into the relocation program. It’s our only solution,’’ said Bayan al Assaf. The 21-year-old from Syria’s pulverized city of Homs was in Idomeni with his parents, 18-year-old sister, and 13-year-old brother. He hoped to get to Germany or the Netherlands.
About 150 people also blocked one lane of a highway and a highway flyover by the nearby town of Polykastro, staging a demonstration outside a small hotel frequented mainly by charity workers.
Conditions in Idomeni, where thousands have been stranded since the border shut to refugees earlier this month, have steadily deteriorated, exacerbated by days of rain that have turned the fields into muddy swamps.
On Tuesday, a young Syrian man set himself on fire during a protest there. He was hospitalized with burns to his upper body, doctors said.
Those in Idomeni have found themselves stranded without a clear picture of what their options are.
‘‘We’re staying here without any plan. We don’t know what to do,’’ said Emad Sukariah, a 54-year-old from the Syrian capital of Damascus traveling with his wife. Three of his children are already in Germany, he said, and one is in Austria.
All migrants arriving in Greece are being arrested since Sunday, when the agreement between Turkey and the European Union took effect.
In the deal, Turkey agreed to accept the return of migrants from Greece. In exchange, for every Syrian removed from Greece, one will be sent from Turkey directly to an EU state.
Human rights groups have been strongly critical of the deal. The United Nations refugee agency and relief agency Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, have stopped assisting the government at registration facilities on the islands, now being used to detain migrants.
Greek officials could not say when the deportations would start, with outstanding legal and practical issues still to be resolved.
Associated Press
