Macedonian police fired tear gas on 29 February to disperse hundreds of migrants and refugees who were desperate to cross the border from Greece, bringing down a gate as frustrations boiled over at restrictions imposed on people moving through the Balkans. Macedonian police fired several rounds of tear gas into crowds on a railway line where migrants had sat refusing to move, demanding to cross into the country. Struggling with limited resources to house migrants itself, Macedonia had briefly closed its border last week, only to re-open it but with much stricter controls.