Story highlights More than 8,000 migrants and refugees expected to move by the end of week

Conditions at the makeshift camp have been dire

(CNN) Greece has begun moving more than 8,000 desperate migrants from an overwhelmed transit camp on its border with Macedonia.

George Kyritsis, a government spokesman, said in a live television interview on Greek TV station Skai, that the operation to clear the Idomeni camp began at dawn and said that "no violence would be used."

"It is still early in the morning, people in Idomeni are waking up and packing their stuff to get on buses waiting to transfer them to organized facilities."

Photos: Inside Idomeni: Greek authorities start clearing migrant camp Greek policemen walk into a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the northern village of Idomeni on Tuesday, May 24. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Inside Idomeni: Greek authorities start clearing migrant camp Buses take migrants away from Greece's largest informal refugee camp. Authorities are gradually evacuating the camp, where thousands of people have been living for months in dire conditions. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Inside Idomeni: Greek authorities start clearing migrant camp Migrants have been living in tents after fleeing Syria, Iraq and other places of conflict. People started massing at the camp after Macedonia erected fences and tightened border controls. Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Inside Idomeni: Greek authorities start clearing migrant camp Tents cover rail lines linking Greece and Macedonia at the Idomeni migrant camp, May 23, 2016. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Inside Idomeni: Greek authorities start clearing migrant camp Migrants wait for the distribution of aid at the Idomeni camp on May 23. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Inside Idomeni: Greek authorities start clearing migrant camp Food lines stretch along fences as people wait under makeshift shelters to receive their food quotas. Hide Caption 6 of 6

Officials confirmed that six busloads of people had already left Idomeni for organized camps near the city of Thessaloniki, 80 kilometers or 50 miles away.

Kyritsis said that 2,500 people had been moved in the past week with 8,000 remaining. He estimated that there are new facilities able to house 6,000 people, and said more should be ready soon.