Migrant children lose parents in stampede on Macedonian border

GEVGELIJA, MACEDONIA // Thousands of migrants on the Greek border with Macedonia on Saturday managed to rush past baton-wielding Macedonian police who had blocked their passage since Thursday.

Police fired stun grenades and several people were injured in the border clashes.

The tumult started when police decided to allow a small group of migrants with young children to cross the frontier and crowds in the back squeezed them toward the shielded police wall.

Many women, at least one pregnant, and children fell to the ground apparently fainting after squeezing past the cordon.

Then thousands of others, including women with babies and men carrying small children, used the moment to run across a field not protected by barbed wire to enter Macedonia.

Police fired stun grenades, but did not manage to stop the rush.

There were no immediate reports of the number and extent of injuries. Many children also lost their parents in the chaos and were left shouting “mama, baba”.

Several hundred, mostly elderly and children, remained on the Greek side of the border when police restored order.

It was the second day of clashes between the migrants and Macedonian police who are attempting to block them from heading north toward the European Union.

Humanitarian organisations say the surge in the numbers of people trying to reach EU countries is the result of conflicts or repression in east Africa and the Middle East.

They have called on European governments to shoulder more of the burden of absorbing the wave of asylum seekers and to help create safer routes for them to reach Europe.

Italy’s coastguard was on Saturday coordinating the rescue of up to 3,000 migrants from waters off Libya after receiving distress calls from 18 crowded vessels.

At least seven boats – six Italian and one from Norway – were involved in an operation to get the migrants safely off 14 rubber dinghies and four other vessels carrying an estimated total of between 2,000 and 3,000 people, the coast guard said.

More than 104,000 migrants from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia have landed at Italy’s southern ports so far this year after being rescued in the Mediterranean.

More than 135,000 other migrants have landed in Greece and more than 2,300 people have died at sea while trying to make it to Europe with the help of people smugglers.

Meanwhile, police in Palermo, on the Italian island of Sicily, said they had arrested six Egyptian nationals on suspicion of people smuggling following the rescue of a stricken boat on August 19.

Testimony from the 432 migrants on board suggest the vessel had been packed with more than 10 times the number of people it was designed for, with many of the passengers, including a number of women and children, locked below decks.

They had each paid the traffickers €2,000 (Dh8,365) for the passage from Egypt to Italy, according to statements given to police.

On board, the crew were reported to be demanding further payment to allow those locked in the hold to come up temporarily for air.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press