GEVGELIJA/PRESEVO: Thousands of tired and beleaguered migrants, mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans fleeing conflict, boarded trains and buses in Macedonia that took them one step closer to the European Union on Sunday, a day after they stormed past police trying to block them from entering the country from Greece.

The mass movement came after Macedonia police reopened the country’s southern frontier, enabling thousands to travel north toward Serbia from which they seek to enter the EU.

Some 2,000 rain-soaked migrants rushed past baton-wielding Macedonian officers, who had been sealing the border for three days. Police fired stun grenades and dozens of people were injured as the migrants leapt over barbed wire or ran across a field not protected by the fence to enter Macedonia.

After the incident, police decided to allow migrants to cross the border freely again from Greece, which is also overwhelmed by the human tide. Police officials said that the blockade was imposed to try and stem the overflow of people that has caused chaotic scenes at a railway station in the Macedonian town of Gevgelija as thousands tried to secure places on overcrowded trains.

Thousands of migrants who reached Serbia overnight faced an overcrowded refugee center where they have to apply for asylum — the paper that allows them three days to reach Hungary. Emina, a migrant from Syria who boarded an early morning train with her two-month-old baby, blamed Macedonian authorities for “harassing” them.