The border is closed. People remain in Idomeni. They refuse to leave, they refuse to take the border closure for granted. Rain kept on falling all morning. The situation keeps on deteriorating. The distribution of non-food items is not working. People remain in semi-flooded, muddy Idomeni in their soaked clothes. Locals are bringing clothes and food, small stalls have keep popping up in the vicinity of the camp. The ADM kitchen keeps on cooking 7000 meals a day. They enable the survival of people who have to endure the situation in the camp in Idomeni. “The border has to open again. They cannot leave us here like this. Maybe on the next meeting on the 17th”, one refugee stated.
Meanwhile, independent volunteers reported that the situation in the military-run camp in Cherso, Northern Greece, is equally terrible. The camp is crowded, the living conditions are very bad and the tents there are flooded as well.
In the evening, a big demonstration took place in Thessaloniki with around 1500 participants. People took the street in solidarity with the refugees and against the racist European migration policies that leave people to a slow death in camps like Idomeni.
With all the media outlets only focussing on the humanitarian crisis in Idomeni, it is often forgotten that this situation is totally manufactured political one. If there would be no border, there would be no humanitarian crisis.