Migrants, Police Clash On Macedonian Border As Soldiers Build Fence

Over the past two weeks, several Balkan states including Macedonia have been turning back migrants from countries other than Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, all of which are embroiled in conflict.

Macedonia is reinforcing a fence along its southern border with Greece to prevent illegal crossings by migrants.

The man’s Moroccan compatriots formed the bulk of the about 250 people who started throwing stones at Macedonian police.

Saturday’s violence broke out after one migrant, believed to be a Moroccan, was electrocuted and badly burned when he climbed on top of a train wagon.

Police were chasing the migrants with stun grenades.

In a move that follows in the footsteps of the controversial policy pioneered by Hungary, Macedonian soldiers began driving ten-foot-high metal poles into the cold muddy ground along its southern border with Greece.

Some threw stones at police while others fell to their knees shouting, “We want to go to Germany!”

In a surge that began about 18 months ago, people of different nationalities have been flowing across Balkan borders, having landed by boat in Greece from Turkey.

A few ran across into Macedonia but were quickly detained by police.

In a statement following the November 13 shooting and suicide attacks in Paris, Macedonian authorities said that they would examine the possibility of erecting a fence to limit the flow of migrants from Greece, but emphasised it did not plan to close the border.

Gjorgjev said that fence will serve “to direct the inflow of people towards the controlled points for their registration and humane treatment”.

Europe is facing the worst refugee crisis since World War II as more than 850,000 people have entered the European Union countries this year with almost half of them entering Greece.

That diverted them into Croatia and Slovenia en route mostly to Germany, which is struggling to cope.