Greek police fire tear gas, rubber bullets against refugees at border zone in Turkey
Istanbul/Xinhua/UNI: Greek police on Monday fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons against illegal migrants who have been waiting at Turkey's border gate with Greece to cross into Europe, eyewitness said.
Thousands of refugees seemed to be stuck at the borderline in Turkey's northwestern province of Edirne as Greek authorities are determined not to allow them into the country.
Greek police have beefed-up the security measures in the Pazarkule border gate by covering the zone with additional barbed wires and deploying more troops, said state-run Anadolu Agency.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced on Sunday night that so far, over 100,000 refugees have managed to cross to Greece from Edirne.
According to local reporters, refugees are mostly using the Evros River, flowing in between the two countries, to sneak into the Greek side.
Last week, Turkey decided to open its border gates for illegal migrants after at least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel-held stronghold.
Around 1.5 million Syrian refugees, fleeing from the bombardments of Syrian forces in Idlib, have also flooded Turkey's border with Syria.
The Turkish government has been repeatedly announcing that it could no longer take the burden of refugees as the country is already hosting over 3.7 million Syrians.
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