A local Greek police source said Macedonian authorities had pushed back groups of migrants from unguarded parts of the border during the night.
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Hundreds of migrants were back in Greece Tuesday, returned by Macedonian authorities a day after they left a refugee camp in Greece and crossed the sealed border.
As many as 500-2000 migrants managed to enter Greece on Monday afternoon, with Macedonia vowing to send them back.
“They put us on army trucks, took us to a location some 10 minutes from Idomeni where the fence is broken, and sent us back through there”, he said.
The migrants walked out of the overcrowded camp of Idomeni on the Greek-Macedonian border yesterday, travelling west on foot.
Hundreds of refugee and migrants stranded in Greece are crossing into neighboring Macedonia, defying border closures by Balkan countries.
However, all of a sudden yesterday several thousand migrants simultaneously embarked on a near four mile trek, across a swollen river, in an attempt to get around the new border fence.
Greek officials say leaflets that circulated at the Idomeni camp before Monday’s march showed it was planned.
They formed a human chain to cross a river and walked alongside a border fence until it came to an end.
Thousands of migrants march Monday from the Idomeni camp in Greece in an attempt to reach Macedonia on a route that would bypass the border fence.
A group of around 80 journalists and activists who were detained by Macedonian police after travelling with the group were also released and allowed to return to Greece. A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency in Idomeni, Babar Baloch, confirmed that many had returned to Idomeni.
“We do not know who produced it…nor how they found the ropes yet”, he said, referring to ropes used to cross the river. Concern about the spread of infection grew after one person was diagnosed with Hepatitis A. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday there was “no chance” that border shutdowns throughout the Balkans would be lifted and urged refugees to move to reception centers set up by the state. (Reporter: “Do you think you can cross?”) “I think so”.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday there was no question Germany has benefited from the closure of the Balkan migrant route. Renzi told students in Rome. European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair an EU summit with Turkey on Thursday and Friday, was flying on to Ankara to discuss the fraying pact with Turkish leaders after tough talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.
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Police spokesman Toni Angelovski told The Associated Press that the bodies were discovered early Monday in the Suva Reka river, near the border town of Gevgelija.
