Kastanies (Greece) – Tension has grown at the Greece-Turkey border at Kastanies, a day after Greek security forces used force to stop migrants from entering the country.
There are still many people gathered in a no-man’s land just beyond the border fence as of Thursday.
Greek security was on standby in case the crowds made another push toward the border.
On Wednesday, the migrants and Turkish authorities accused the Greeks of opening fire and killing at least one migrant, while wounding several others, an accusation Athens dismissed as “fake news”.
The migrants have massed at the border at Pazarkule on the Turkish side, following Ankara’s decision to stop blocking them from reaching Greece and thereby entering the EU.
Athens has said it will protect its borders and has not let the migrants in.
Greece is already hosting tens of thousands of migrants on its islands and the mainland, most of whom arrived from Turkey in recent years and originally come from conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa.
The latest pressure on the EU border has left Brussels scrambling for measures to prevent a new surge of migrants, four years after a deal with Turkey hugely curbed the number of people making it into the bloc.
EU top officials and member states have stood resolutely by Greece in the past few days, in spite accusations of heavy-handed tactics from rights groups and NGOs.
(dpa/NAN)