Gas fired at people trying to get across Macedonian border

Riot police guarding the Greece-Macedonia border fired tear gas yesterday to repel migrants and refugees, who are angry that thousands of people have been stuck there for several days.

A group of men used a metal fence post and rusty road sign to batter open a gate on the railway line that crosses the closed border at Idomeni, prompting Macedonia’s police to fire tear gas rounds into the crowd to stop people entering the country.

As men, women and children ran from the acrid, billowing clouds, some men tried to dash across into Macedonian territory and others hurled stones at the police, who wore protective helmets and body armour and carried riot shields.

Medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières said they treated 15 people with respiratory problems and seven with other injuries, though none were thought to be serious; one Macedonian police officer was hurt.

“Everyone’s tired and they don’t know what’s happening. No one knows when we will be able to go on, if it is possible to go on, and some people are angry now,” said Samir, a Syrian travelling with his wife and two children.

He spoke several hours after the border clash, when an uneasy calm had returned to the sprawling camp that is now home to about 7,000 people, most of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Samir warned that frustration would keep rising, and violence could be repeated, if the crowd at Idomeni continued to grow and uncertainty deepened.

Spent money

“No one tells us anything,” complained the engineer from Damascus. “What happens if we cannot go ahead to Europe? We can’t go home to Syria – it means death to go back.

“People have risked their lives, spent all their money to come to Europe. So what future do all these people have? What is the answer?”

The camp now spills across the fields beside Idomeni, and the large tents of major aid groups stand alongside a railway line which, for a year, has served as a major artery for refugees and migrants heading for western Europe.

Hundreds of small, brightly-coloured tents now dot a vast area, commonly with five or more people crammed inside. But many at Idomeni have no shelter and feared they would spend a night in the open, as gathering clouds brought fears of rain.

Greece is scrambling to provide accommodation for more than 22,000 refugees and migrants now stuck in the country, amid fears expressed by government officials that the number could grow to 70,000 in the coming weeks.

The backlog has been caused by Balkan states north of Greece – Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia – agreeing to allow only about 580 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to cross their borders each day.

Those countries say they are reacting to Austria’s decision to accept only 80 asylum requests every day and to allow a daily maximum of 3,200 refugees to enter its territory on their way to Germany – the main destination for asylum seekers.

Move on quickly

Throughout the crisis, all Balkan states and Austria have sought to move people on as quickly as possible, in case any government to the north abruptly decided to severely restrict the flow of refugees.

With Greece apparently powerless to prevent some 2,000 people each day landing on its islands from Turkey, it is now facing this very problem, after Balkan and central European states informally agreed to stem the influx at Greece’s northern border.

A summit between EU leaders and Turkey next Monday is now seen as crucial to getting a grip on this spiralling crisis, before better spring weather encourages more people to make the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Greece and Italy.

Nato ships are now sailing between Turkey and Greece to help stop traffickers, but it is not clear how successful the scheme will be, given the number of smugglers operating and the long coastline and many islands to be patrolled. Greek officials say it could reduce the inflow of refugees by 70 per cent.

German-led efforts to share refugees among EU states and to streamline measures to send failed asylum seekers home, have come to nothing.

Turkey has also failed to deliver on a €3 billion deal with the EU to stop refugees from sailing to Greece.