Greek authorities announced they hope the crowded refugee camp in Idomeni on the Greek-Macedonian border will be emptied within two weeks, partly because they persuaded the migrants to move to the nearby newly built shelters.
The Deputy Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection Nikos Toskas, excluded the use of force to “relocate” the 14,000 people who have camped on the border near the village where conditions are getting worse and worse.
“We have to convince them to move, but we can not do that using tear gas. Half of them are women and children”, said Toskas.
Officials say that so far around 800 people have agreed to leave the camp, but new migrants arrive daily.
Macedonia this week closed its borders to all migrants and refugees, after several Balkan countries and Austria in February began to impose restrictions on migrants.