LESBOS, Greece — Protesters clashed with police guarding a border fence in northern Greece Saturday, following a series of sea accidents that killed dozens of migrants and a warning from authorities that the death toll is likely rise in coming weeks.

About 500 anti-government protesters, who traveled from Athens and several towns in northern Greece were involved in the clashes near the border with Turkey after challenging a police cordon blocking access to the fence that spans more than 6 miles.

Refugees and migrants aboard a dinghy set out, trying to travel from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Chios, near Cesme, Turkey, on Saturday. The Associated Press

The demonstrators are demanding that Greece tear down the fence and allow refugees to cross by land instead of risking their lives on the sea crossing to Europe. The youths hurled rocks at police who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

The government says it cannot remove the fence for “practical reasons” and has called on other European Union countries to speed up additional support promised for search and rescue operations in the east Aegean Sea.

Greece is struggling to cope with a surge in arrivals, many fleeing the civil war in Syria, and the crossing is becoming increasing deadly as winter approaches.

More than 60 people, half of them children, have died in the past four days while trying to reach Lesbos and other Greek islands from the Turkish coast.

Most of the recent deaths have occurred in a 5-mile stretch of sea separating Turkey from the northern coast of Lesbos.

The head of the island’s port authority, Coast Guard Lt. Cdr. Antonios Sofiadelis warned that smugglers were using increasingly dangerous tactics.

“Many of the boats are going for scrap and they use them for one last trip,” he told The Associated Press in an interview. “Smugglers usually take the boats to the edge of Greek waters and then get picked up by speed boats. The people on the boats usually have no experience at sea.”

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