Police says injury of Syrian at border camp was an accident

The Greek Police on Tuesday issued a statement saying that serious injuries sustained by a Syrian man at a makeshift refugee camp in Idomeni, on Greece’s northern border, were the result of an accident and not police negligence.

The Syrian Kurd, aged around 40, suffered serious head injuries on Monday after being hit by a police van at the camp during efforts to evacuate some 10,000 refugees and migrants who have been camped there for months in the hope that the border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will be reopened.

The incident sparked violent reactions from other camp residents, who attacked the van with stones and sticks, claiming that the driver had run over the Syrian man.

Tuesday’s announcement from police headquarters in Athens said that the preliminary findings of an ongoing investigation into the incident suggest that the Syrian man fell in front of the van, possibly during a fainting episode, while standing outside his tent.

A coroner is expected to examine the victim, who is said to be in serious condition at a hospital in Kilkis, northern Greece.