Tear Gas Fired As Refugees Try To Force Greek Border Fence

Berlin, 22 Jumadil Awal 1437/2 March 2016 (MINA) – Hundreds of refugees on Monday tried to break through a border fence into Macedonia from Greece where more than 6,000 people are stranded, as Germany lashed out at EU states for abandoning Greece to refugee chaos.

Macedonian police fired tear gas as a group of some 300 Iraqi and Syrian protesters forced their way through a Greek police cordon and raced towards a railway track where they tried to get through the barbed wire marking the frontier between the two countries, an AFP correspondent said.

“Open the borders!” they shouted, prompting police to fire volleys of tear gas which prevented them from crossing. World Bulletin quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The angry protest took place several hours after Macedonia allowed some 300 Syrians and Iraqis to cross before resealing the frontier, keeping thousands of others out.

With Austria and Balkan states capping the numbers of refugees entering their territory, there has been a swift buildup along the Greece-Macedonia border with Athens warning that the number of people “trapped” on its soil could reach as many as 70,000 by next month.

As the bottleneck showed little sign of easing, German Chancellor Angel Merkel lashed out at a raft of restrictions imposed by Austria and the Balkan states, saying they risked plunging debt-ridden Greece into refugee chaos.

“We can’t just abandon this country,” she said in an interview late on Sunday, pointing the finger at Austria, whose introduction of restrictions on February 19 triggered a domino effect.

“When one insists on his border, the other suffers. That’s not my Europe.” (T/P002/R07)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)