Angelina Jolie At Piraeus To Meet Migrants'

She told one young boy: "I'm here to learn and speak with you and the agencies and the government to learn what is happening, OK? Try to stay strong."

She was enclosed on both sides as, at one stage, she warned: "The press needs to be more thoughtful."

A little later she forced people to give way as she escorted a little girl through the crowd.

The refugees and migrants are waiting to head north to Greece's closed border with Macedonia, or for a place in rapidly filling official shelters.

They are the last of the 143,000 who have so far entered Greece from Turkey through illegal smugglers' routes.

The migrants are now stuck in Greece because of border closures on the Balkan route to Europe's prosperous heartland, with about 12,000 in the greater Athens area.