International
Greek Police Fire Tear Gas As Migrants Seek To Enter From Turkey
In a move to stop refugees and migrants attempting to cross the border from Turkey,, Greek police on Saturday opened tear gas in the latest incident since Ankara declared its borders with the European Union open.
According to report, tear gas was coming from Turkish territory and being fired towards Greek police near the crossing at the Pazarkule border, known as Kastanies on the Greek side.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people could be seen on the Turkish side of the high perimeter fence, with some pushing at it.
A Greek government statement issued on Saturday said nearly 600 people, aided by the Turkish army and the military police, threw tear gas canisters at the Greek side of the border overnight.
There were several attempts to breach the border fence, and fires were lit in an attempt to damage the barrier, the statement said.
The development came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the coastguard to prevent migrants crossing the Aegean Sea because of the risks.
“On the orders of the president … permission will not be given for migrants to cross the Aegean Sea because it is dangerous,” the coastguard tweeted on Friday.
“The approach of not intervening against migrants wishing to leave Turkey remains in practice but this [new] approach covers sea crossings because of the dangers,” it added in another tweet.
The coastguard said 97 migrants were rescued on Thursday after “the Greek side flattened three boats and left them in a half-sinking state in the middle of the sea”.
The instruction comes after Erdogan said last month that refugees and migrants would not be prevented by Turkish authorities from leaving Turkey if that was their wish. That move came after an escalation of violence in Syria’s northwest that saw dozens of Turkish soldiers killed in Syrian government air raids amid an offensive by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad aimed at seizing the war-torn country’s last rebel bastion.
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