European Countries Start To Clamp Down On Migrant Flows

Washington Post: Migrants find doors slamming shut across Europe

BERLIN — Nations along Europe’s refugee route are taking the boldest steps yet to clamp down on migrant flows, trapping thousands of asylum seekers and potentially blocking countless war-weary families from finding sanctuary in the West.

The crackdown in recent days, aid groups say, comes at the worst possible time — just as new arrivals are rapidly increasing and the majority of migrants, once single men, are now women and children. An even larger surge from the Middle East and beyond is expected in the coming weeks, with tens of thousands more migrants set to land in Greece and start the long trek northwest to Europe’s core.

But crisis-weary countries from Austria to Macedonia are now moving to bar the doors. Since Sunday, Macedonia and Serbia, for instance, have blocked passage to virtually all Afghans — a group accounting for roughly a third of all migrants. Even many Syrians and Iraqis without proper documentation are being turned away, aid groups and U.N. officials say, leaving a quickly increasing number of desperate asylum seekers stranded in nearly bankrupt Greece.

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Update: EU fears humanitarian crisis on Balkan migrant route (BBC)

WNU Editor: The backlash grows. If the Balkans close these migrant routes, Greece is going to be swamped with a million plus refugees this year with all the frustrations and despair that this will bring .... Clashes Erupt in Greece as Macedonia Bars Afghan Asylum Seekers (NYT).