Migrants mass on Turkish-Greek border to try to enter EU

Thousands of people have massed on the borders of Greece in the hopes of crossing into the European Union after Turkey declared it would no longer hold them back.
Clashes broke out at one border crossing at the weekend as Greek police fired tear gas to repel migrants who tried to force their way through.
The United Nation’s International Organisation for Migration said it had observed at least 13,000 people gathered at checkpoints into Greece and at numerous informal crossing points. At the same time, hundreds more people began landing from boats at the Greek islands close to the Turkish coasts.
People began moving towards the border in their thousands after Turkey announced it would no longer prevent them leaving.
“There have been about 10,000 or so migrants that have been coming on buses from Istanbul up to this area since yesterday,” said a spokeswoman for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration.
“Buses in Istanbul are still full and people are coming in the hundreds if not thousands.”
Families laden with bags and carrying small children could be seen trekking towards the border, some gathering firewood to survive the cold winter night.