Clash Between Macedonian Police, Migrants Leaves Scores Injured at Border with Greece

World » SOUTHEAST EUROPE | November 29, 2015, Sunday // 11:33
Bulgaria: Clash Between Macedonian Police, Migrants Leaves Scores Injured at Border with Greece Macedonian police officers guard the border line as migrants and refugees wait for permission to cross the border from Greece into Macedonia, near Gevegelija, 25 November 2015. Photo: EPA

A clash between Macedonian police and migrants left up to forty people injured at the Macedonian-Greek border on Saturday.

A group of economic migrants not allowed to enter Macedonia from Greece attacked policemen by throwing stones and other objects.

Reports suggest that Macedonian police briefly entered Greece and fired stun grenades on the discontent migrants.

According to the Macedonian interior ministry, 18 police officers were injured with two hospitalised, while around twenty migrants were treated for head injuries and breathing problems, the BBC informs.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) informs that 105 000 migrants have passed through Macedonia after arriving in Greece this month alone.

Between 700 and 1500 migrants, originating mainly from Algeria, Morocco, Iran and Pakistan have been stranded near the Greek border town of Idomeni for nearly two weeks.

They have been protesting the tightening of border control, with some of them destroying a section of a barbed wire barrier on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Macedonian army started to erect a wire fence along the country’s border with Greece.

Macedonia restricted passage in the aftermath of the attacks in Paris on November 13, with Skopje allowing only the transit of refugees fleeing armed conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Macedonian government spokesperson reassured that the fence is only part of the technical-tactical measures for directing people to the official crossing points for registration and humanitarian treatment.

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Tags: macedonia, greece, border, migrants, refugees, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, clash, IOM, Paris, attack, fence

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