Migrants want to quit Greece but EU rules mean Athens must make them stay
Many want to leave for other EU countries but Brussels rules mean Athens must keep them
Strapped to the underbelly of a train, 23-year-old Ali Arzin from Afghanistan had hoped to cross the border of crisis-hit Greece into Macedonia and eventually reach another EU country.
But the wooden platform he had rigged beneath the train carriage last month fell apart, and Ali met a gruesome death on the tracks.
Hundreds of migrants have perished trying to reach Greece, but Ali is one of the first known to have died trying to escape it, and the limbo in which tens of thousands find themselves there.
In recent months, hundreds of refugees from Africa, the Middle East and central Asia have been attempting to leave Greece via its northern border with Albania but particularly Macedonia.
The Greek government has spent years and millions of euros trying to stop migrants getting into Greece via the same frontier. Now they are trying to stop them leaving.
Greece is bound by European Union regulations to prevent undocumented migrants from crossing its border into other EU states.
The refugees huddle in makeshift camps near the train tracks at the border post of Idomeni, 65km north of Thessaloniki, waiting for their chance. Some try to sneak on board passing trains from Thessaloniki to Skopje, while others hope to enlist the help of Macedonian smugglers.