Out in the cold: Refugees get no good news at Greek border

IDOMENI, Greece — Hassan Rasheed’s papers have been cleared, but the Iraqi refugee has spent days freezing in a tent with no tarp on the ground and flaps that don’t close, one of 10,000 migrants stuck at a muddy camp on the border of Greece and Macedonia.

Austria’s chancellor insisted he would not to let his country become a “waiting room for Germany,” while authorities from four ex-Yugoslav countries on the refugee route vowed closer cooperation to keep people out.

The heavily policed border, marked by a twin fence and coils of razor wire, remained closed a day after refugees attempted to push through the barriers and were forced back by Macedonian riot police using tear gas and stun grenades.

More exhausted refugee families continued to reach the burgeoning tent city in this Greek border town on foot or by taxi.

In Athens, the government said it has requested $520 million in aid for the refugee crisis from the European Union, under an emergency plan to cope with as many as 100,000 stranded refugees — roughly three times the number now stuck inside Greece.