Dutch campaigners who drove overland to Greece to pick up 150 refugees from the country’s refugee camps are returning back to the Netherlands empty handed.

Organiser Rikko Voorberg from the We Gaan Ze Halen (We will bring them back) group told Dutch radio that the Greek authorities did not respond to requests for a meeting. They had planned to bring the refugees back to the Netherlands in a fleet of some 30 cars.

‘We have always said we hoped for a miracle and it did not happen,’ Voorberg said. ‘What has happened is that the relocation of refugees is back at the top of the political agenda.’

Junior immigration minister Mark Harders said before the group left for Greece that any refugees they picked up would be sent back because they have to request asylum in the first European country they arrive in.