Sunday’s violence at the Idomeni border post on the frontier between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) came after police from the neighboring state used tear gas, stun grenades and possibly rubber bullets to turn back hundreds of migrants that tried to break through border fences. The incidents sharply raised concerns in Athens.
According to “N”s correspondent in northern Greece, the lack of an adequate law enforcement presence on the Greek side coupled with the now questionable activity of certain NGO “volunteers”, suspected of egging on refugees and migrants to break into the neighboring country, caused Sunday’s incidents between fYRoM authorities and the latter.
The leftist government in Athens appeared even more surprised when police from the neighboring state appeared to enter Greek territory to put down the disturbances and chase back migrants into Greece.
The result, on the political level, was sharp criticism by the opposition parties against the leftist Tsipras government and, hours later, the handing of two demarches to the fYRoM government by the head of Athens’ diplomatic liaison office in Skopje.
A defence ministry source in the evening merely commented that foreign police officers did not enter Greek territory, as a border fence “lies two meters further back, in the neighboring country’s territory”.
The mass attempt by Mideast war refugees to enter the neighboring country came after another round of pamphlets, written in Arabic, appeared on Saturday at the makeshift camp set up at the Idomeni border post.
