300 injured as Macedonian police open fire on refugees

(Image from aktuelle-deutschland)

Athens, (IINA) - Around 300 people were injured Sunday when Macedonian police used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades on refugees as they tried to break through the border fence with Greece, Anadolu Agency reported citing local media.
The Greek Refugee Coordination Crisis Management Body condemned the violence, saying that “the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades from FYROM [Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia] forces against vulnerable populations, and even without force majeure, is a dangerous and reprehensible practice”.
“We urge the FYROM authorities to understand the potential risks from the use of violence against refugees and migrants”, spokesman Giorgos Kyritsis said in a statement to ANA-MPA.
The Greek Foreign Ministry said it had protested to Macedonia. The Greek ambassador to Skopje, Theoharis Lalakos, called on the Macedonian authorities “to rise to the occasion and exhibit the proper responsibility, self-restraint and seriousness”.
Macedonia's Interior Ministry said 15 Macedonian police officers were injured, with five sustaining serious injuries.
The ministry’s spokesman Toni Angelovski said that extra police had been deployed to the border. “Police will be patrolling all night long”, he said, adding that refugees had gathered following rumors the frontier would be opened.
The violence began after a group of five refugees approached the frontier to speak to Macedonian police.
Around 500 people later gathered outside the refugee camp at Idomeni and approached the border, which is protected by a fence and barbed wire.
A spokesman for Doctors without Borders told ANA-MPA that 200 people were treated for breathing problems, 34 for open wounds and 30 for injuries caused by rubber bullets. The group said seven people had to be hospitalized.
AG/IINA

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