Police fired teargas as migrants try to run Greece-Macedonia border fence
Idomeni, Greece: Macedonian police fired tear gas at hundreds of Iraqi and Syrian migrants who tried to break through the country's border fence with Greece.
The group of around 300 migrants, including women and children, forced their way past a Greek police cordon onto a rail track and tore down a barbed wire fence into Macedonia.
"Open the borders!" they shouted, some throwing stones at the fence, prompting police to fire volleys of teargas, which prevented them from crossing.
At least 30 people requested first aid after the incident, including many children, aid group Doctors of the World said.
The angry protest took place several hours after Macedonia allowed just 300 Syrians and Iraqis to cross before resealing the frontier, keeping thousands of others out.
By Monday morning, Greek police said more than 7,000 people were massed at the border, in a buildup triggered by Austria and Balkan states capping the numbers of migrants entering their territory.
"Over 7,000 people are at Idomeni, nearly half of them women and children," Vicky Markolefa, a Doctors of the World representative, told AFP.
She said the number was four times the capacity of camps set up by aid groups on the border to shelter people waiting to cross.
"Nobody is explaining to us why we cannot cross," said Abdaljalil, a 22-year-old Syrian from Aleppo.
"It's very difficult here, there is neither room nor food," he told.
