Operations to move thousands of refugees stranded at Greece's Idomeni camp have begun. Having been stranded at the border camp for months, those living there were told by police to pack up their belongings and make their way towards buses, which would take them to state-supervised facilities located further south.

Government officials reported that by noon, 1,110 people had left the camp.

Idomeni is a makeshift camp, located on the sealed northern border Greece shares with Macedonia. In recent months, it has hit over-capacity after a cascade of border closures along the Balkan route in February. This had a massive affect on the usual route towards western Europe, and meant that those those fleeing war, persecution and poverty in the Middle East and Asia had no choice but to remain at the border.

The camp has the capacity for roughly 5,000 people, yet the latest tally of people recorded was 8,199, although the number has been much higher. At one point, there were over 12,000 people living there, many of whom were families and unaccompanied children living in squalid conditions.

Greek authorities have said that the move is expected to last several days.