Scuffles have broken out between migrants and refugees at Greece’s northern border with Macedonia, after hundreds of people blockaded the crossing in protest because they were not being allowed to cross the border.
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The agreement with Frontex will see the border agency provide personnel to help register refugees and migrants at Greece’s border with FYROM, where some 6,000 people have now amassed as a result of Skopje refusing to allow anyone except Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, who can qualify as refugees, through.
The man, believed to be Moroccan, was among about 1500 people, mostly from Pakistan, Iran and Morocco, stuck near the northern Greek border town of Idomeni, demanding to cross into neighbouring non-EU Macedonia and then on to northern Europe.
The victim, believed to be a Moroccan citizens, died when he climbed “onto a carriage of a stationary train near the border and touching a high-tension cable overhead”, local police spokesman Petros Tanos has been quoted as telling AFP.
The strengthening of Frontex’s existing operation on the Greek islands and assistance in the registration and fingerprinting of migrants at Greece’s land borders were among the conclusions of the October summit of leaders of the countries lying on the so-called Western Balkans route used by migrants to reach Western Europe.
The agency says it now has 195 officers on the Aegean islands.
Earlier, Police distributed fliers warning the economic migrants that they must leave the border area within three days, and the government implied it would take more drastic action if necessary.
Greece has been the main point of entry into the European Union for about 700,000 migrants and refugees so far this year.
Greek government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili told Greek radio: “It is completely inaccurate that Greece is not accepting the help of Frontex”.
Macedonia has erected a metal fence to keep others out.
Other migrants lowered the man’s severely burned body to the ground and covered it with a sheet, and a volunteer doctor in the area confirmed the man had died.
A 30-year-old Pakistani man, known only as Eli, who has been living in Greece for six years and wishes to go on to Germany said: “Why aren’t they allowing us to cross?” He would not give his surname for fear of reprisals for manning a roadblock.
Greek authorities have been struggling to accurately register all the migrants entering the country, and mistakes are frequent.
Laws on the Schengen system of passport-free travel between 22 European Union countries and four outside the bloc were revised in 2013 to enable the suspension of a country for up to two years in case of “serious deficiencies” in external border management.
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It said it was alarmed by reports of Macedonian police officers firing rubber bullets at asylum-seekers and urged them to show restraint.
