SKOPJE: A group of migrants trying to enter Macedonia pelted the police with stones on Saturday, injuring several officers as the small Balkan country became the latest to build a border fence aimed at checking the flow of newcomers.

The interior ministry said 18 police were injured, two of whom were hospitalised, in the protests at the Gevgelija crossing point between Greece and non-EU member Macedonia which came as Macedonian troops began to seal up parts of the border with a 2.5-metre-high fence.

Several police and army vehicles were damaged in the protests, the ministry said in a statement.

Greek news agency Ana reported that Macedonian police fired stun grenades in the migrants’ direction.

Government spokesman Aleksandar Gjorgjev described the situation by mid-afternoon as “calm and stable”.

A photographer earlier saw soldiers using heavy machinery to build a barrier near Gevgelija, on the main road north from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Macedonia’s capital Skopje.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015