Hundreds of migrants 'stopped by Macedonian troops' after crossing border

Gevgelija Macedonia: Hundreds of migrants were stopped by Macedonian soldiers after illegally crossing the border from Greece on Monday an AFP correspondent at the scene reported.

Some 20 journalists who accompanied the group on their march to find an alternative route into Macedonia after the country closed its borders were taken to a police station in the Macedonian town of Gevgelija said the reporter who was among them.

By walking through fields and crossing a river the migrants managed to get around the barbed wire fence that has kept them from entering Macedonia since last week.

But the army surrounded the migrants and made them sit down with the apparent goal of arranging for their return to Greece.

This was the first large-scale crossing at the border since the frontier was closed last week. Late last month some 300 protesters who tried to force their way into Macedonia were hit with tear gas by police.

More than 12000 people have been stranded at the crossing in increasingly desperate conditions after the main migrant route to western Europe through the Balkans was effectively shut down last week.

AFP