Macedonian police used teargas to push back hundreds of migrants from a border fence on Sunday at a sprawling refugee camp on the Greek border, a Reuters witness said.
Advertisement
Around 500 people later gathered outside the refugee camp at Idomeni and approached the border, which is protected by a fence and barbed wire.
Migrants trapped at a facility in Idomeni, Greece following the closure of a migration route through the Balkans were attempting to break past border guards.
The Macedonian foreign ministry said Skopje has been continuously requesting from Athens “co-operation, information sharing and preventive action to dissuade violent rioting of migrants and illegal border crossing from Greek into Macedonian territory”.
Police have deployed tear gas against asylum seekers at the Idomeni refugee camp in Greece, on the border with Macedonia, local media have reported, adding that injuries are feared.
Aid workers say they have treated people for exposure to tear gas. Tear gas and chemicals kept on coming in an effort to keep people from approaching the fence.
Migrants could be seen running from clouds of tear gas just inside the Greek border, as well as hurling stones across the fence.
Macedonian police, however, denied that anyone had been injured by plastic bullets.
“We urge the authorities of FYROM to comprehend the potential risks the use of violence against refugees and migrants entails”, said Kyritsis, referring to the official title of the neighbouring country, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Macedonia’s Interior Ministry said 15 Macedonian police officers were injured, including five seriously.
“We need to have a Skype meeting three times per week, three hours per day”, said Adnan, a Syrian refugee who has been in Idomeni for over a month.
The mayor of a town near the Turkish border has asked the Bulgarian Defense Ministry to help equip a local volunteer border patrol in case the flow of migrants rises.
Hundred of migrants and refugees at a makeshift camp on the Greek side of the border stormed the border fence, a Macedonian official told Reuters.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said the border clashes are “a matter of great worry”.
Advertisement
Many people, including small children, suffered respiratory problems. They were plucked from the water by the Greek coastguard, while more activists stood at the gates of the port of Mytilene blowing whistles and banging on metal barriers.
