REUTERS Macedonian police used tear gas to push back hundreds of migrants from the border

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A rampaging pack of more than 500 refugees attacked guards defending the country's southern border with Greece on one of the worst days of migrant violence this year. Migrants with their faces covered by masks and war paint were seen picking up and hurling rocks at officers, who responded by firing tear gas canisters to drive them back.

Greece, which is desperate to move on tens of thousands of migrants stranded within its order, described the use of force by Macedonian police as "dangerous and deplorable". In a strongly-worded statement, Greek government spokesman George Kyritsis said police had made "indiscriminate use of chemicals, rubber bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable populations".

REUTERS Masked migrants have hurled rocks at police in Macedonia

EPA A Macedonian officer is injured after being struck by a rock

EPA Macedonian officers shield themselves from the shower of stones

He added that their actions were "without reasons" and decried them as "a dangerous and deplorable act". The charity Medecins Sans Frontiers said that at least 260 migrants were injured in the skirmishes. But Macedonia insisted it had only used tear gas to hold back the migrants, and said it has a right to uphold law and order and defend its borders. A Macedonian official who asked to remain anonymous said that a large group of migrants left Idomeni camp in the morning and stormed towards the fence.

REUTERS A large group of migrants left Idomeni camp in the morning and stormed towards the fence

REUTERS Migrants at Idomeni are demanding that the border with Macedonia be opened

REUTERS Tear gas was fired on a crowd of more than 500 people

He said: "They threw rocks at the Macedonian police. The police fired tear gas in response. "The migrants were pushing against the fence but standing on the Greek side of the border. The fence is still there, they have not broken through." The violence unfolded outside the small village of Idomeni, which has become a magnet for hundreds of thousands of migrants hoping to travel onwards to Germany and Sweden. More than 10,000 migrants and refugees have been living at the sprawling tent camp in Greece since February, stranded there after a cascade of border shutdowns throughout the Balkans. Balkan states including Macedonia, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia have worked together to shut off the route northwards, leaving tens of thousands of migrants trapped in Greece, where they risk being deported back to Turkey under a new EU deal.

REUTERS Greek authorities wants the migrants to move to reception camps

Migrants clash with police across Europe Wed, February 15, 2017 Migrants clash with each other in over crowded camps across Europe. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 107 Moroccan Police look at immigrants trying to jump the six-meter-high fence in Ceuta, Spanish enclave on the north of Africa, 09 December 2016.