AKIPRESS.COM - Macedonian police firing tear gas drove back crowds of migrants and refugees trying to enter from Greece on Friday, enforcing an emergency decree sealing the frontier to thousands of Syrians, Afghans and others trying to reach western Europe.

The Balkan country declared a state of emergency on its northern and southern borders on Thursday after weeks of chaotic scenes at a border railway station inundated daily by up to 2,000 migrants and refugees crossing from Greece en route to Hungary and Europe’s borderless Schengen zone, reports Reuters.

Riot police in armored vehicles sealed the border around the official crossing point at the town of Gevgelija, leaving several thousand people, mainly Syrians, stranded in a cold, damp no-man’s land overnight. Their numbers will only rise as more arrive from Greece, where 50,000 reached land by boat from Turkey in July alone.

A Reuters cameraman saw police fire tear gas to disperse a crowd seeking passage into Macedonia. Several people bore leg wounds. A second Reuters reporter saw military vehicles at the railway station after the government said on Thursday it would call out the army to help.

The flare-up was brief, but the plight facing those stuck in no-man’s land threatens to worsen as more arrive. Reuters reporters said aid agencies did not appear to have access to the no-man's land, though the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontieres and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) were present either side of the border.

The International Organisation for Migration said it was "deeply concerned" by the fate of those stuck in no-man's land, calling for restraint and urgent humanitarian aid.

The UNHCR criticized the border closure. "These are refugees in search of protection and must not be stopped from doing so," said chief spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.