Border Protest: Two Refugees Set Themselves on Fire Along Greek Border

The situation along the Greek-Macedonian border is escalating a little more every day. As multiple European nations shutter their borders, the Middle Eastern migrants are accumulating in Greece, and predictably, the conditions they’re living in are getting worse. The Idomeni refugee camp for instance, was designed to house 2,500 people, and is now brimming 12,000 refugees living in squalid conditions.

However, those conditions are not the fault of the Greek government. They have repeatedly urged the refugees to leave the camp, and seek shelter at several camps set up throughout the country up by the Army.

The refugees in Greece have since protested the now heavily regulated border, and have even tried smashing through it with a battering ram. Now they’ve committed the ultimate act of desperation. On Tuesday, two migrants tried to light themselves on fire to protest the border situation, as well as the conditions in the Idomeni camp. Several refugees who were standing nearby were quick to extinguish the flames, thus saving their lives. Others in the camp started chanting “open borders” as they were rushed to the hospital.

Given the extreme nature of these acts, there are really only three ways this will end. Either Europe will give in and open the borders (doubtful), the Greek government will clash with these refugees and force them out of the camp, or the refugees will give up and start trickling back to their home countries.