Greece blocks 10,000 migrants at Turkish border

Greece blocked nearly 10,000 «illegal» entries into the European Union from Turkey on Saturday and Sunday morning, a government official has said.

The statement on Sunday comes a day after 13,000 migrants gathered on the Turkish-Greek border, following Turkey’s announcement that it will no longer stop refugees from crossing into Europe.

«From 06:00 (04:00 UTC) Saturday morning to 06:00 Sunday morning, 9,972 illegal entrances have been averted in the Evros area,» Greek Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis told local broadcaster Skai.

Stefanis said all were successfully thwarted, but Turkey claims more than 76,000 migrants successfully crossed into Greece.

«As of 09.55 hours, the number of immigrants leaving our country via Edirne; 76,358,» Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu  wrote on Twitter, without specifying a time frame.

At least 220 migrants reached Lesbos

Some migrants did manage to cross into Greece on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

«Here in Greece, 220 refugees arrived on the coast of Lesbos and were brought into a camp,» DW’s Greece correspondent Florian Schmitz reported. Reuters news agency reported that more than 500 may have made it to Greece from Turkey within 24 hours.

Read more: Will the EU-Turkey refugee deal collapse?

Thousands more remain in Turkey near the border.

«We heard on the news that the border was open,» one man told DW’s Turkey correspondent Julia Hahn. «Now we understand it was all just a political game.»

Bulgaria, which also shares a border with Turkey, said that not a single migrant has illegally crossed the border.

Frontex on ‘high alert’

The EU’s border protection agency Frontex also said Sunday it is on «high alert» on borders with Turkey, as thousands more migrants are expected to attempt to enter the bloc, adding it is deploying support to Greece.

«We have raised the alert level for all borders with Turkey to high,» the Frontex spokeswoman said in a statement to Agence France Presse.

«We have received a request from Greece for additional support. We have already taken steps to redeploy to Greece technical equipment and additional officers,» she added.

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ed/stb (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

To read the article in English. Deutsche Welle Europe