Hundreds of refugees broke through security forces along the Macedonian border on Saturday, fighting past stun grenades and police batons to get into the country, according to Reuters.
Macedonia closed its border on Thursday and declared a state of emergency. Swarms of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries have been surviving for days near the border with little to no food and water.
Around 2,000 migrants have been crossing the border daily, trying to get to the European Schengen zone. Riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to push them away from the border on Friday.
Armored vehicles were used to block some parts of the border between Greece and Macedonia, CNN reported. The refugees, wet from the rain Friday night, have erected makeshift camps near the border.
"They are treating us like animals," one Syrian man said. "Better to die from bombs in my homeland than die out here."
In the last two months alone, an estimated 44,000 migrants have flooded into Macedonia on their way to Europe. Most have come from Syria, but others have come from Africa, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Around 1,500 migrants managed to slip past barricades on Saturday, swarming security to get through the border, according to UPI.
