Syrians vow to flee despite bars at borders

The country’s borders were sealed off to migrants and refugees a week ago, and NATO expanded patrols in the eastern Aegean Sea — and waited for signs that the number of arrivals was beginning to slow.

The daily number stayed below 1,000 most of the past week, but spiked to 3,340 on Wednesday, according to data from the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.



Since the borders closed, the number of migrants and refugees stranded in Greece has climbed to above 42,000.

[...] the European Union’s commissioner for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, a conservative Greek politician, revealed last week that emergency plans are being made to help the country cope with 100,000.

Arrivals could remain high for as long as war and destitution affects refugees’ lives.

The EU’s decision to encourage the closure of the Balkan migration route doesn't mean people will stop trying to reach northern Europe, said Apostolis Fotiadis, an Athens-based migration researcher and author of the book Border Merchants: