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Migrants clash with Macedonian police at Greek border

Published:Sunday | April 10, 2016 | 9:54 AM
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AP
Migrant men run from tear gas during protests at a border control fence with Macedonia, at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, yesterday.
AP
Migrant man runs with a tear gas canister during clashes with Macedonian police during a protest at a fence at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, yesterday.
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IDOMENI (AP):

Migrants clashed with Macedonian police yesterday after trying to scale the fence separating Greece from Macedonia in the border town of Idomeni.

Macedonian police used tear gas, stun grenades, plastic bullets and later a water cannon in attempts to keep the migrants at bay and they responded by throwing rocks at the police. Twice, migrants tried to breach the fence but were pushed back. Greek police were standing by, not interfering.

Clashes continued into the afternoon, and the wind brought tear gas fumes into a nearby makeshift camp on the Greek side of the border holding over 11,000 stranded migrants. Many people, including small children, who were not involved in the clashes were suffering from respiratory problems.

Volunteer doctors were treating several dozen migrants with respiratory problems, slight injuries from the plastic bullets and facial injuries from close quarter clashes when the fence was temporarily breached, Achilleas Tzemos, deputy field coordinator of Doctors Without Borders told The Associated Press. He said three were referred to hospitals.