Migrants Block Refugees From Crossing Border

Earlier on Thursday, refugees who are being allowed to cross the border clashed with migrants who have been blocked, with both sides throwing stones at each other.

European guards will help Greeks manage their frontier with Macedonia, the EU border agency Frontex said on Thursday after a deal that addresses concerns in the bloc over Athens’ commitment to control migration.

More than 800,000 people have arrived in Europe from the Middle East and Africa so far this year, many of them making the treacherous journey across the Mediterannean Sea in flimsy dinghies. Should Athens fail to do enough, passport controls could be reintroduced for Greek citizens traveling in Europe.

The United Nations refugee agency says it’s “deeply concerned” about the violence at the border between Greece and Macedonia where scuffles have broken out between different migrant groups.

“Greece is ready to move, Greece is finally ready to take responsibility in protecting the external border”, Austrian Inside Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner told reporters before an European Union meeting in Brussels on Friday.

Handicapped by the economic crisis that almost saw it drop out of the euro currency zone, Greece has struggled to cope this year with almost 600,000 people making the short but perilous crossing from Turkey to Greek islands scattered along its coast.

Macedonia has been allowing only people from the three countries to cross. Macedonia, which was the favored route from Greece northwards, has followed suit, building a fence on the border and preventing anyone not from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq from crossing.

Greece has also sent two trains to the area to provide transport back to the capital for migrants who can not cross and wish to return to Athens.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are among world leaders attending the conference.

Greece denies that it ever spurned European Union assistance, but the government, aware of domestic ramifications, has sought to make clear that Frontex will only assist with migrant registration, and not conduct joint border patrols.

Tensions have risen in the area with migrants and refugees holding a sit-in protest on the railway line connecting the two countries and clashing with police forces.

In recent days, non-EU Macedonia has tightened its border and let through only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans – seen as more likely to be granted asylum in the EU.

Greece’s financially-strapped government says it has spent about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) addressing the migrant crisis and only received 30 million euros in European Union aid.

Greece has been overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of Syrians and other refugees who have reached the country’s shores this year.