Greek police detain migrants arriving from Turkey

(3 Mar 2020) Migrants and refugees hoping to enter Greece from Turkey appeared to be fanning out across a broader swathe of the roughly 200-kilometer-long (124 miles) land border on Tuesday, maintaining pressure on the frontier after Ankara declared its borders with the European Union open. Greece has made clear its borders are shut. Since thousands of people began arriving on the Turkish side of the border Friday demanding to be let into the country, Greek authorities have sent military and police reinforcements to prevent mass attempts by migrants to cross. Many of those hoping to cross were trying their luck by wading or rowing across the Evros River that runs along most of the length of the border. Greek authorities have set up cordons of police and army checks on and near the border, arresting those who managed to make it through. On Tuesday morning, two men - one from Mali and one from Afghanistan - were seen being arrested shortly after crossing the border, and being loaded into a van with about 20 more people, from Somalia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Iraq. Greek authorities said that in the 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday morning, they had prevented a total of 5,183 people from entering Greece, and arrested 45 people, mostly from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco and Bangladesh. Turkey announced Thursday it was easing restrictions on those wishing to cross to Europe, and thousands of migrants began massing at the borders with Greece. The vast majority appeared to be Afghans, along with people from a wide variety of countries, including Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh and Syria. Turkey's announcement marked a dramatic departure from its previous policy of containing refugees and other migrants under an agreement with the European Union. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees, has demanded more support from Europe in dealing with the fallout from the Syrian war to its south. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...