THE WORLD TODAY

Clashes after 500 migrants break fence

CLASHES broke out on Greece’s border with Turkey after about 500 migrants attempted to break down a border fence and enter Greece. Greek police said they used tear gas to repel the push to break down the fence south of the Kastanies border crossing. They said Turkish authorities also fired tear gas at the Greek border.

An estimated 2000 migrants are still camped on the Greek-Turkish border, weeks after Turkey declared its borders to Europe open and encouraged migrants and refugees living in the country to try crossing into European Union member Greece.

Tens of thousands of people headed to the border despite Greece’s insistence that its eastern border, which is also the EU’s external border, was shut.

The move came after months of threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would open his borders and allow millions of refugees into Europe unless the EU provided more support for refugee care in Turkey.

The EU says it is adhering to a 2016 deal with Turkey under which it provides billions of euros in funds in return for Turkey caring for more than 3.5 million refugees from neighbouring Syria.

Yesterday, Turkey said it was closing its six land and sea border crossings with Greece and Bulgaria in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus, but a senior official said the measure did not amount to an end of the policy of not preventing migrants from leaving Turkey. The borders were sealed to people and not goods, the official added. The violence on the border came hours after Erdogan held a four-way video conference with the leaders of France, Germany and the UK to discuss the migrant crisis.