Greece begins to clear Idomeni refugee camp — in pictures

Police stand next to an armoured vehicle parked on a railway line. The government’s spokesman for the refugee crisis, Giorgos Kyritsis, said Monday that police would not use force, and that the operation was expected to last about a week to 10 days. Ognen Teofilovski / Reuters

The camp, which sprung up at an informal pedestrian border crossing for refugees and migrants heading north to Europe, is home to an estimated 8,400 people — including hundreds of children — mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Yannis Kolesidis / Reuters

At its peak, when Macedonia shut its border in March, it housed more than 14,000, but the numbers have declined as people realised the border was shut and began accepting authorities’ offers of alternative places to stay. Yannis Kolesidis / AFP Photo

A refugee boy on a wheelchair passes in front of riot police. In Idomeni, most have been living in small camping tents pitched in fields and along railway tracks, while aid agencies have set up large marquee-style tents to help house people Yannis Kolesidis / Reuters

In recent weeks, the camp had begun taking on an image of permanence, with refugees setting up small makeshift shops selling everything from cooking utensils to falafel and bread. Yannis Kolesidis / Reuters

Twenty buses carrying various riot police units were seen heading to the area while a police helicopter observed from above. An estimated 700 police were participating in the operation. Robert Atanasovski / AFP Photo

The Greek government has been trying to persuade people staying in Idomeni to leave the area and head to organised camps. This week it said its campaign of voluntary evacuations was already working, with police reporting that eight buses carrying about 400 people left Idomeni on Sunday. Yannis Kolesidis / AFP Photo

Greek authorities began an operation at dawn on Tuesday to gradually clear the country’s largest informal refugee camp at Idomeni on the Macedonian border, blocking access to the area and sending in more than 400 riot police.