Macedonian border barrier

Tensions rose on Monday as refugees and migrants who had been stranded for weeks at a camp inside Greece walked along the borderline and managed to cross over into the southern Macedonian village of Moin, where police and troops had been deployed in an attempt to stop them, media reported.

Bulgaria will send humanitarian assistance to the migrants and refugees stuck at Greece's border with Macedonia in adverse weather conditions, the government in Sofia announced on Friday.

The assistance will comprise tents, beds, blankets and heating materials as specified by the Greek authorities in a letter sent to Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry, the cabinet said in a statement.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has slammed at some media outlets for their coverage of the migrant crisis.

Macedonia has also moved to close its borders to migrants traveling on the so-called Western Balkan route.

No new arrival of asylum-seekers in the Gevgelija refugee transit centre has been registered for more than fifty hours, which means that this section of the Western Balkan route has been practically closed.

Macedonia has closed its border "completely" to illegal migrants after Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia announced tight new restrictions on migrant entry, a police official said on March 9.

There is no heightened migrant pressure on Bulgarian borders, with the number of refugees passing through the country's borders comparable to the figures from last year.

This was announced by Antonio Angelov, director of border police, in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Tuesday.

The Governor of a region in northern Greece is demanding that state of emergency be declared in the area around the Idomeni border crossing.

At least 13 000 people are stranded on the border between Macedonia and Greece, as Macedonian authorities are applying restrictions to the flow of migrants for several weeks, local and international media quoted him as saying.

Up to 10,000 migrants and refugees were stuck on Greece's border with Macedonia on Tuesday, waiting to be allowed to continue their journey to western European countries, in which they want to seek asylum, newswires reported.

Hundreds of refugees on Feb. 29 tried to break through a border fence into Macedonia from Greece, where more than 7,000 people are stranded, as anger mounts over barriers to entry imposed on migrants flooding into Europe.

Greece on Feb. 28 said the tally of refugees and migrants on its soil could more than triple next month, reaching as many as 70,000 people, as a cap on border crossings by Balkan countries left them "trapped" in the country.

"We estimate that in our country the number of those trapped will be from 50,000-70,000 people next month", Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said.