Macedonia: Tear gas used against migrants; policeman injured

Macedonia: Tear gas used against migrants; policeman injured

Eight migrants have been lightly injured, one child from a stun grenade shrapnel, while a police officer has been stabbed in the stomach.

Strong police and army forces, armored vehicles and barbed wire have been deployed along the border in an attempt to prevent a wave of migrants from entering the country, Macedonian media are reporting today. At least 3,000 migrants who spent the night outdoors tried on several occasions on Friday to cross the border that the Macedonian police sealed. At least four persons have been injured in the ensuing commotion.

Local media said that a group of some 300 migrants managed to enter Macedonia during the night. The police are now trying to locate them and take them back to Greece. A group of some 100 migrants who crossed the border was at the Gevgelija train station on Friday.

Some migrants have been complaining about police brutality, claiming that a woman had been struck by a policeman and taken to the hospital. This has not been confirmed yet.

Eyewitnesses have told the media that a Macedonian policeman was injured when a migrant, asked to show his documents, stabbed him in the stomach with a knife. Macedonia's Fokus website quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the policeman "fell to the ground and remained there in convulsions until an ambulance arrived." It is not known if he survived. The Macedonian Interior Ministry is expected to issue a statement about this event.

The Thessaloniki-Skopje railway line shut down on Friday in Greece as refugees from the Middle East lie on the tracks in protest over Macedonia's decision not to let them in. Greek Railways have provided buses for passengers traveling from Gevgelija to Thessaloniki and Athens, taking them to the nearest town in Greece.

While the crisis is ongoing trains on the Gevgelija-Tabanovce line have been suspended.

Macedonia has become a key transit route for migrants arriving in Greece and "attempting to reach prosperous EU countries." At least 39,000 refugees, mostly Syrians, were registered transiting Macedonia - twice as many as during the previous month.