Clashes between migrants and police in Greece | Politics & Society | '
In the north of Greece violent clashes between migrants and the police have occurred. Hundreds of migrants tried, according to official statements, to break police barriers in front of a refugee camp near the Greek port of Thessaloniki. Some threw stones at police officers. These reacted with tear gas and stun grenades to disperse and push back people.
The news agency AFP reports about 800 people who tried to get from the refugee camp in the village of Diavata towards the border of North Macedonia. The migrants then want to travel on to Central Europe. The German Press Agency reports on 2000 people who had gathered in the region in the north of Greece. They recently spent the night in tents around the refugee camp.
Station blockade in Athens (on Friday): train service set for several hours
Previously, several hundred migrants in the capital Athens had occupied the train tracks of the central station to get to Thessaloniki and from there to Diavata. The train service was stopped for several hours. However, the occupation was finished in the night of Saturday, as the railway directorate announced.
There were some "hardliners" among the migrants who wanted to create tensions, said the Ministry of Migration official for the refugee camps in Northern Greece, Nikos Ragkos. Local police criticized that some migrants in the refugee camp used women and children as a sort of vanguard to break the police cordons.
Migrants flee tear gas from the police
Rumor on the internet
In recent days, the rumor had spread through the Internet that Greece's border with North Macedonia was open. The migrants then decided to start a so-called march north. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned against believing the talk. The Greek Ministry of Migration made it clear that the border would not be opened. All migrants should return to their accommodation.
Bulgaria reinforced the protection of its border with Greece in the face of "increased (migratory) pressure". Northern Macedonia also announced that it was stepping up security at the border.
During the height of the migration crisis, a border fence had been built along the border between Greece and northern Macedonia. This is still standing and is being monitored. Thus, the so-called Balkan route to Central Europe was largely closed. It led from Greece via North Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary to Central Europe. In 2015 and 2016, more than one million people traveled to Germany via this route.
lh / wa (dpa, afp)
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