The Greek riot police began operations at Idomeni early on Wednesday following an announcement made by Alternate Migration Policy Minister Yiannis Mouzalas who pledged that authorities would ease overcrowding at the border. He had said in Greek Parliament that it would not be an easy mission.

Around 1,200 migrants were forced to board buses taking them to Athens in an operation that began at 8 a.m. on Monday.

The area of Idomeni on the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has been inundated with migrants left stranded after FYROM started allowing only refugees to cross the border. Thousands of migrants prevented from crossing have caused problems to trade by blocking train lines for at least 20 days and threatening local people’ livelihood. Multinationals had already started avoiding the area.

Around 500 police were deployed to the region to disperse the migrants and take them away from the area. Earlier they had distanced the media and photoreporters from the region.

Mouzalas had already indicated that there would be such an operation. “We do not want any ploodshed,” he had told private SKAI TV. “We do not want to create a situation like Hungary at Idomeni.” He had pledged, however, to resolve the issue swiftly.