IDOMENI, Greece—Greek authorities sent hundreds of police into the country’s largest informal refugee camp Tuesday to support the gradual of evacuation of the Idomeni site on the Macedonian border.
The government has pledged that police will not use force, and says the operation is expected to last about a week to 10 days.
By about midday 18 buses carrying a total 838 people had left Idomeni, heading to new refugee camps in northern Greece, police said. No violence was reported.
Vicky Markolefa, a representative of the Doctors Without Borders charity, said the operation was proceeding “very smoothly” and without incident. “We hope it will continue like that,” she said.
The camp, which sprang up at an informal pedestrian border crossing for refugees and migrants heading north to wealthier European nations, was home to an estimated 8,400 people — including hundreds of children — mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
At its peak, when Macedonia shut its border in March, the camp housed more than 14,000, but numbers have declined as people began accepting authorities’ offers of alternative places to stay.
In Idomeni, most have been living in small camping tents pitched in fields and along railroad tracks, while aid agencies have set up large marquee-style tents to help house people. Greek authorities have sent in cleaning crews regularly and have provided portable toilets, but conditions have been precarious at best, with heavy rain creating muddy ponds.
