Greece Holds Activists as Migrants and Police Clash Anew at Macedonia Border

By LIZ ALDERMANAPRIL 13, 2016

The New York Times

ATHENS — Clashes erupted at Greece’s northern border for the second time in three days on Wednesday, with the Macedonian police firing tear gas on scores of migrants as they protested border closings that have left more than 12,000 stranded in a makeshift refugee camp.

The protests in Idomeni, a town in Greece on the border with Macedonia, came as Greek authorities arrested 14 activists there, saying that they had incited the migrants to storm the razor-wire fence dividing the two countries.



The police accused the activists, from Britain, Germany and other European countries, of encouraging the migrants to protest by telling them that doing so would arouse sympathy among European governments and in that way help reopen borders and let them proceed on what was once the main migrant path to Germany, where most say they want to go.

Around 300 migrants, including women and children, were injured on Sunday when they sought to break through the border fence and the Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

Greek television showed a crowd of migrants on Wednesday, their faces covered with scarves, chanting, “Open the border!” as the Greek police moved in to restore calm. Macedonian police officers could be seen sitting on several tanks lined up on their side of the fence.

Less than two months after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece warned that Europe’s migration policies risked turning his country into a “warehouse for souls,” Athens is struggling to manage the tide of people trapped in Greece since Balkan nations, like Macedonia, closed their borders, trying to avert a chaotic flow of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants into Europe like that of last year.

Since a European Union deal with Turkey to try to stem Europe’s migrant crisis went into effect on March 20, migrants who now arrive in Greece from Turkey face deportation. But the migrants, like those in Idomeni, who arrived before that date now find themselves stuck in recession-hit Greece, unable to make their way to their preferred destinations in Northern Europe.

The Greek government is overwhelmed by asylum applications from tens of thousands of migrants who realize they cannot move. Many are biding their time in Greece as they try to figure out what to do if their applications are rejected and they face deportation.

In the meantime, numerous countries have revived border controls 20 years after the so-called Schengen agreement permitted largely passport-free travel among European Union members.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, warned on Tuesday that it might soon authorize member states to extend border controls for up to two years instead of the normal six months, if Greece does not quickly outline how it plans to tighten control of its borders.

The commission said Greece had still not made adequate progress in registering thousands of migrants throughout the country. Analysts and European politicians have warned that reinstating border controls could deal a sharp blow to the European Union economy.

Greece, which does not have the resources to process and assist the migrants, has been waiting for more than 1,000 police officers and asylum experts to arrive from other European countries to help.

In the meantime, the authorities in Greece are trying to confront growing tensions among migrants on the mainland as well as among thousands held at detention camps on Greek islands, where migrants are living in increasingly squalid and dangerous conditions.

Just over two weeks after Greece began carrying out the terms of the March 20 deal and started deportations from the Greek islands back to Turkey, Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday, a trip aimed at highlighting the plight of migrants.

Greek officials have also been trying to clear the camps in Idomeni and another migrant camp in Piraeus, the port of Athens, where more than 4,000 have been living in tents and warehouses for over a month. The migrants have been reluctant to move to military-style camps amid fears that, once there, the government might shut them in.

In the last two days, however, around 15 busloads of people have agreed to be transferred from Idomeni to nearby camps, while hundreds have agreed to leave Piraeus. Still, large numbers of migrants at both places have insisted on staying, leading the government to warn that they may soon be forcibly cleared.

Follow Liz Alderman on Twitter @LizAldermanNYT.