New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece’s border with the country. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with M…
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Greek television showed a crowd of migrants, their faces covered with scarves, chanting, “Open the border!” as Greek police moved in to restore calm.
The European Union’s president says he is concerned about an increase in the number of migrants arriving from Libya, as the EU focuses on sending people back to Turkey.
The protests in Idomeni, a town in Greece on the border with Macedonia, came as Greek authorities arrested 14 activists there, saying that they had incited the migrants to storm the razor-wire fence dividing the two countries.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, warned on Tuesday that it might soon authorize member states to extend border controls for up to two years instead of the normal six months if Greece does not quickly outline how it plans to tighten control of its borders.
Last October, when several thousand refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries were passing through Greece on their way to other parts of Europe, Caritas Hellas had five paid employees. Besides Idomeni, Greece is trying to clear makeshift camps by the end of April at three other locations containing a total of more than 10,000 people: a gas station 17 kilometers (11 miles) south of Idomeni, the port of Piraeus, and the site of Athens’ defunct former airport. “We are watching with concern the hard living conditions in the provisional camp Idomeni and the events of the past 24 to 48 hours on the Greece-Macedonia border”, said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“If you want to fight the smugglers, there is only one way, you have to give the possibility for legal migration to Europe”, declared Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal group (ALDE/left), while also expressing his doubts about the effectiveness of the EU-Turkey agreement.
The EU had moved on closing the Balkan route “much too late”, after countries further north had been forced to close their borders within an otherwise open-border area.
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On Sunday, severe clashes between stone-throwing migrants and Macedonian police using tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and a water cannon left scores injured. Slovenian President Borut Pahor and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic accompanied him to the centre just inside Macedonia, which houses 135 migrants trapped by the border closures. The clashes prevented a planned visit to the closed border crossing.
