23.02.2016

18.00: The camp is crowded, but the situation is calm. People from Syria and Iraq are slowly crossing the border. We are leaving the site now and continue reporting tomorrow.

17.30: The big group of Afghani that has been walking on the highway in police escort is not on the highway anymore. Most probably they have been forced in to buses and brought back to Athens after all.

17.00: 6 buses of Afghanis leave Idomeni. They are escorted by police. Around 20 people are sent back from Macedonia. Along with three remaining women still occupying the train tracks, they are put onto a bus and driven away. The camp is very crowded with people from Syria and Iraq.

15.00: A group  of around 150 people are walking on the highway towards Idomdeni. Unlike the many people who walked yesterday, this group is accompanied by three police cars. Presumably because they are people from Afghanistan, who have just been evicted from Idomeni. There is the rumour that evicted Afghans protested in the bus when they where driven away from idomeni. The bus driver had to stop. The people could then leave the bus and started walking back to idomeni. We assume it is this group accompanied by police.

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13.30: Police is restricting entrance to the camp, they don’t want anybody to take photos. The group of 50 is there reportedly for five hours. It’s not clear why they are kept there. The border is open again for those who are fulfilling the official criteria. The camp is still crowded.

13.00: Still 50 refugees on the railway surrounded by riot police.

12.00: police are blocking the roads in a perimeter of approximately 3 kilometres around the camp. No independent  observers are allowed on site. 11 buses of people were sent away from the border. It is still unclear to where they have been brought.

10.00: This time, the Greek police did not wait for so long. They are removing the people who started blocking the train tracks yesterday. Just as on the 9th of December, no journalists or other independent observers are allowed inside the camp. People are said to be transported back to Athens and Thessaloniki.