Macedonia Police Fire Stun Grenades on Migrants on Border With Greece

People could be heard screaming and medical workers raced to treat those who passed out or were hurt.

Tension erupted in Europe’s migrant crisis as Macedonian riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades in a bid to disperse the crowds. “It’s scorching sun and there are no facilities here even for children or sick people”.

Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades to drive migrants and refugees back from its southern border from Greece on Friday but crowds continued to build up at a new bottleneck in an increasingly desperate flight to western Europe. Others had bruised faces.

The small Balkan state declared a state of emergency on Thursday, placing its southern border on lock down as its government said it would deploy the military. Interior Ministry spokesman Ivan Netik defended the decision by saying his country isn’t equipped to handle Muslim migrants because it doesn’t have any mosques.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU’s Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner, insisted the commission had been working “day and night” to offer funding and other support to states struggling to cope with the influx of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

“Nobody cares about us”.

Holding his child, a man pleaded for help. “We need a European-wide policy”.

A aid worker holds a young girl, August 17, 2015, as migrants are disembark from the Norwegian ship Siem Pilot at Catania harbor, Italy.

“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.

A Greek government-chartered ferry carrying about 2,200 mainly Syrian refugees from the island of Lesbos – which sees the highest number of arrivals in Greece – was due to reach Athens later Friday, the coast guard said.

Authorities in Macedonia said official border crossings remained open, but they would “reduce illegal border entry to a minimum”.

“I don’t know what to do”, he said by phone. “I don’t have passport or identity documents”.

We want to go to Germany to find a new life because everything has been destroyed in Syria. “I will stay here till the end”. Majority were Syrians. The Siem Pilot pulled into the port of Catania on Monday carrying 49 migrant bodies believed to have suffocated in the water-logged hold of a fishing boat and some 416 migrants rescued at sea. Migrants in the French port have tried to break into the Channel Tunnel and stow away on cars, trucks and trains.

“We expect the involvement of the army will bring two desired effects – it will increase security among our citizens in the two regions and will allow for a more comprehensive approach toward people expressing their interest in applying for asylum”. According to worldwide law, Macedonia has the right to control the persons trying to enter its territory and to forbid entrance to the ones that do not fulfill the necessary criteria.

And the crisis shows no signs of slowing.

“The proposals are all on the table”.

Humanitarian groups said they had no access to the stranded migrants. “We’re certainly not the ones that have stood in the way of implementing it”.