Police on Greece’s border with Turkey on Wednesday used tear gas and water cannons to repel hundreds of refugees and migrants clustered on the Turkish side who attempted to break down a border fence and enter Greece.
The evening clashes took place near the Kastanies border crossing.
Greek police said that Turkish authorities also fired tear gas at Greek forces, and migrants later lit fires on the Turkish side of the fence.
Similar clashes occurred before dawn on Wednesday, lasting for about two hours.
An estimated 2,000 people are still camped out 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 EU member Greece.
Tens of thousands of people headed to the frontier, 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 allow millions of refugees into Europe unless the bloc 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 dollars in funds in return for Turkey caring for more than 3.5 million refugees from Syria.
On Wednesday, Turkey declared that it was closing down its six land and sea border crossings with Greece and Bulgaria in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.
However, a senior Turkish official said that the measure did not amount to an end of Ankara’s policy of not preventing refugees from leaving Turkey.
The borders were sealed to people and not the transportation of goods, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with Turkish government protocol.
The violence on the border came hours after Erdogan on Tuesday held a four-way videoconference with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain to discuss the refugee crisis.
A statement from Erdogan’s office said the four leaders also discussed ways of resolving the Syria conflict and providing humanitarian aid in Syria’s troubled Idlib Province. It did not immediately provide further details.
The teleconference between Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was arranged after the European leaders canceled plans to travel to Istanbul due to the coronavirus crisis.
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