Tensions continue on the border between Greece and Turkey. New clashes briefly broke out on Friday 6 March at the border between Greek police firing tear gas canisters and migrants throwing stones, while the European Union warned the refugees that its doors were closed to them.
After these scuffles, hundreds of migrants gathered in front of the Pazarkule border post (called Kastanies, Greek side), chanting "freedom", "peace" and "open the doors!", According to an AFP photographer.
Some brandished above the barbed wire signs on which we could read "We want to live in peace".
"We simply want a better life, a better situation, to live in freedom", explains to AFP Amir Massoud, an Iranian, sanitary mask on the face to protect himself from the tear gas.
After the announcement on February 28 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the opening of its borders to the EU, several thousand migrants headed for Greece, awakening in Europe the memory of the migration crisis from 2015.
The European Union has strongly denounced the migrants as "blackmailed" when Ankara claims Western support in Syria, a country where Turkey is carrying out a military operation and is faced with an influx of displaced people towards its border.
The EU sent a message to migrants on Friday to discourage them from traveling to the Turkish-Greek border.
"I want to send a clear message: do not go to the border. The border is not open," said European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell after a meeting of foreign ministers from member countries in Zagreb.
Explosion of anger
Greek authorities have accused Turkish forces of firing tear gas canisters and smoke bombs on the Greek side of the border. According to Athens, the Turkish authorities are also distributing material to cut the fences preventing migrants from crossing to the Greek side.
Faced with this land border closed by double turn, several hundred migrants have managed to reach the Aegean islands by taking to the sea since last week.
In a context which has already been particularly tense in recent weeks, where the inhabitants of the Greek islands oppose the construction of new detention camps, the new arrivals have sparked an explosion of anger against aid workers and journalists in particular.
While thousands of migrants are now stranded on the Greek-Turkish border, makeshift camps have formed on the Turkish side.
Many migrants sleep in the open air despite the cold. The lucky ones, often families with children, have made tents with tarpaulins, from which they emerge exhausted every morning.
Exploited migrants
Some of them expressed, on Friday, their growing frustration with Ankara, believing that they had been duped by Turkish authorities who made them believe that they could easily cross the border. Coaches parked not far from the Pazarkule border crossing offered to take migrants to the Meriç river (Evros, in Greek), which separates Turkey and Greece.
A whole system of exploitation of migrants has also developed, Turkish street vendors selling bottles of water, food or materials to make shelters at tenfold prices.
With AFP
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