Police fire tear gas at migrants on Macedonia-Greece border

Police fired tear gas at migrants as they tried to break through a border fence from Greece into Macedonia on Sunday, officials said, in the latest violence to hit Europe's migrant crisis.

The incident took place near the Idomeni border crossing in northern Greece, a flashpoint where more than 11,200 people have been stranded after Balkan states closed off the migrant route in mid-February.

A Greek police source said hundreds of migrants gathered to demand the opening of the frontier and tried to force the fence, prompting Macedonian police to fire tear gas.

Macedonian police confirmed the incident but said the tear gas had not come from their side.

"There are some incidents on the Greek side of the border. Greek police are using tear gas near the border with Macedonia. It is calm so far on the Macedonian side of  the border," a senior Macedonian police official told AFP.

The protest came after rumours in the squalid and overcrowded Idomeni camp that Macedonia was going to open the border. Similar rumours a fortnight ago also triggered an unsuccessful attempt to rush the fence.

Efforts by the Greek authorities to persuade migrants to leave Idomeni and move to nearby reception centres have not been successful, with many people preferring to stay put in the hope the border will be opened.

In late Feburary, Macedonian police tear gassed some 300 migrants after they broke through a Greek police cordon and raced towards a railway track between the two countries, prompting the European Union to voice "concern" about heavy-handedness.

Sunday's incident came a day after five people drowned off the Greek island of Samos, the first deaths in the Aegean Sea since a controversial EU-Turkey deal to stem the flow of refugees took effect three weeks ago.
Source :AFP