The Latest: Migrants clash with police at Greek camp
Posted Apr 18, 2016 8:00 am.
Last Updated Apr 18, 2016 10:40 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BERLIN – The Latest on European efforts to deal with the influx of migrants (all times local):
4:55 p.m.
Migrants living in an unofficial camp on Greece’s northern border with Macedonia have briefly clashed with police after a camp resident was injured, allegedly by a police van.
Greek riot police dispersed dozens of protesting migrants who had earlier attacked the vehicle with stones at the Idomeni camp of around 10,000 people. No injuries or arrests were reported.
Greek authorities say a Syrian refugee was taken to a hospital Monday with injuries, but their extent and precise causes were unclear. Migrants on the scene said he was hit by the van.
Despite appeals from authorities to move to organized shelters, thousands of refugees and migrants have been camped for weeks at Idomeni. They hope that Macedonia will reopen its border and allow them to travel north towards Europe’s prosperous heartland.
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3:50 p.m.
The European Union’s border agency says the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy more than doubled last month.
Frontex said in a statement on Monday that almost 9,600 migrants attempted the crossing, one of the most perilous sea voyages for people seeking sanctuary or jobs in Europe.
The figure is more than four times the 2,283 people who set out in March 2015.
Frontex said most of those attempting the trip were from sub-Saharan Africa and there is little evidence that migrants from the Middle East or Asia are changing routes.
The agency says the number of entries into Greece from Turkey slowed significantly in March from February, but at 26,460 people remains three times the number from a year ago
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11:30 a.m.
A German Muslim leader drew a parallel between a nationalist party and the Nazis on Monday after a prominent party member said that Islam is incompatible with Germany’s constitution.
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has seen its support swell on opposition to the migrant influx to Europe. It also has talked tough about Islam, which deputy leader Beatrix von Storch described in a weekend newspaper interview as “a political ideology that is incompatible with the constitution.” She advocated a ban on minarets, muezzins and full veils.
Von Storch’s comments came ahead of a congress April 30 at which the three-year-old AfD plans to debate and approve an official party program.
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