Most of the green tents have been opened in a rush. Inside are sleeping bags, blankets, adult clothing, and kids’ toys. Styrofoam cups with a sip of chai and plastic plates with noodles from the evening before. Next to the tilt dwelling: A fire place with a pile of logs, which still waits to be burned to provide heat for the hands and feet of those sitting next to it. Day one after the eviction – or, in the language of the authorities: evacuation. All these things that are scattered along the railway tracks testify to the previous presence of the inhabitants of the informal camp close to the border crossing in Idomeni.
The inhabitants are gone – they were made leave by force – but their presence is still attached to the space. A contested, precarious presence, as in the last days, people had been put under more and more pressure to leave the border area. Entering the village wasn’t allowed anymore, as well as taking a taxi. New arrivals were left six kilometers next to the highway in the dark and cold. The eviction on Wednesday was just another violation of personal rights and freedom which is an almost permanent experience for migrants.
Traces of their resistance against this can also be found in the remains of the camp: ‚Fight racist borders‘ read the outer walls of the big tents. Also, people refused to leave during the eviction. Some shouted slogans and tried to stay together until the police started to pull them away brutally, one by one. They fought for that bit of hope that made them stay the last21 days in the windy tents and on the cold ground. Hope, that the border would be opened again at some point. But the people of Idomeni didn’t stay on the rail tracks and fields only because of mere hope. The fact that no border lasts forever has been proved day by day. Groups of people left to the woods, headed towards the mountains. Some came back with traces of police brutality on their bodies. Others sent text messages a few days later as they reached Skopje or Belgrade.
With the eviction, the hope of a border opening has been eliminated. But not the will and determination of people to arrive, where they want to go. They will all find their ways and routes. From the crowded Taekwon Do Stadium in Athens, where they were brought, across the borders.
Ain’t no fence high enough.
On the 18th of November 2015, Slovenia closed its borders for refugees who are not from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq. Just a little later, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia also adopted this practice of segregation. There is little doubt about that this policy was pushed by the European Union as a starting point for slowing down or even stopping the flow over the Balkan route. Thousands of refugees were stuck in Eidomeni, Greece, and started to protest. The Moving Europe Bus was on the spot and reported live from the 22nd of November to the 11th of December 2015 – when the camp had been evicted. On the 5th of February 2016, we decided to restart our live-ticker as the new year has already seen several attempts from the European Union to slow down the migration movement towards Europe. Macedonia seems to become a key player in this strategy. For several weeks the Macedonian border authorities have slowed down the transit process. The predictable effect of this, given the high arrival numbers to the Greek islands, is that thousands are becoming stuck in Greece. On the 3th of February the Macedonian government announced its plans to strengthen border controls which will further reduce the speed of the transit process. In the meantime, the Greek authorities have established a new buffer zone near to Eidomeni. Since the camp at the border has already become highly overcrowded, there are fears that the violent scenes of last December in Eidomeni will be repeated. Therefore the authorities have decided that people should be kept at bay, at a gas station on the highway that is 20 km far away from the border (at Polykastro). For weeks migrants have had to stay there for hours under miserable conditions. Since the end of January the situation at the Greek border zone has escalated once more. There is only a trickle of people being let through to Macedonia and now people at the gas station have to wait for days before their buses finally leave towards the border. On the 3rd of February 2016 thousands of them decided not to wait any longer at the petrol station and started to walk towards the Macedonian border (#marchofhope 2). Further protests and tensions are to be expected. The Moving Europe Bus is on the spot since the 2nd of February and reports live from Polykastro and Eidomeni.
