Migrant group crosses into Macedonia

Amid tumultous scenes on Saturday, the mostly Syrian migrants rushed past Macedonian riot police who were attempting to prevent them crossing into Macedonia from Greece.

Police used stun grenades and batons to try and stop a rush that occurred when hundreds of migrants pushed in behind a small group who had been allowed to cross the frontier.

Many women and children were reported to have fainted to the ground after squeezing past the police cordon, and some of the migrants, including the elderly and children, were chased down by policemen and severely kicked or beaten with batons after fleeing across the border.

Several children lost contact with their parents in the crush, and dozens of people were reported to have been injured.

However, later in the evening, police ended up allowing all the migrants into the country after the bid to stop them failed.

Many of the migrants had spent a rainy and chilly night in the open with little or nothing to eat.

Unprecedented crisis

It was the second day of clashes between Macedonian police and the migrants, who mostly want to pass through Macedonia to wealthier northern European countries such as Germany and Sweden.

On Friday, police fired stun grenades in a bid to hold back the migrants, with 10 people injured in clashes.

This came a day after the Macedonian government declared a state of emergency at the border following an unprecedented wave of migrants this year, most of whom are fleeing conflict in Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq. Some 45,000 have crossed through the country over the past two months, while more than 160,000 have arrived so far in neighboring Greece, which is struggling to cope with the influx.

Last week saw chaotic scenes at the train station in the border town of Gevgelija, as hundreds of migrants tried to board trains to the border with Serbia with the intent of heading further north to Hungary.

tj/bw (AFP, AP)