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Monday, June 13, 2016

Dozens of migrants stuck in Greece queue for access to asylum

[Refugees and migrants are briefed by a UNHCR staff before a pre-registration process that gives them access to the asylum procedure, at the premises of the disused Hellenikon airport, in Athens]By Karolina Tagaris ATHENS (Reuters) - Dozens of migrants and refugees stuck in Greece queued up in Athens on Monday to register for access to its asylum system, a new process that Greece hopes will speed up their relocation to other EU member states or reunite them with family elsewhere. Some 48,000 refugees and migrants are stranded on the Greek mainland by the closure of Balkan borders, which has shut the main overland route used last year by a million people from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond headed for western Europe. Authorities hope to register 1,400 people a day from two sites, the head of Greece's asylum service, Maria Stavropoulou, told journalists.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com