Macedonia Police Fires Tear Gas at Refugees

Macedonian police fired tear gas at crowds of refugees on the Greek border on Friday, to deter them from trying to enter the country. Video footage showed at least several refugees were injured.

The previous day the Macedonian government declared a state of emergency on its southern and northern border following an unprecedented influx of refugees.

The Interior Ministry said it was of deploying troops on the border with Greece, in a last-ditch move to stem to flow of refugees into and across the country.

The aim was to enhance control of the border area, Ivo Kotevski, spokesperson of the Interior Ministry, explained on Thursday.

Gabriela Andreeska, from the NGO Legis, said that on Thursday night around 100 refugees managed to cross the border and to enter Macedonia through illegal crossings, but they were then escorted back between the two borders.

"The situation was terrible. Since those refugees were on Macedonian territory, police should have issued them with certificates for intention to seek asylum, so they can travel further," she said. "But that didn't happen. They just put them in vans and took them back to Greece".

She added that one of the refugees was taken to hospital after he collapsed on Macedonian territory afet which doctors confirmed that he suffered from epileptic attack.

In the last two months, 41,414 foreign nationals have entered Macedonia on their way to Western Europe.

The refugees see both Macedonia and Serbia only as transit routes to Western Europe, which is why Macedonia earlier relaxed controls on migrants, allowing them 72 hours to cross the country unhindered.

The EU has neither approved nor condemned the new controls on the Macedonian border. Macedonia has the right under...

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