Refugees in Greece – Macedonia border launch hunger strike

Refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are being allowed through but those from other countries are deemed “economic migrants” and turned back. The recent border policy have triggered a build-up of refugees at Balkan borders, including some form the priority nations but without documents.

Moroccans, Iranians and Pakistanis on Greece’s northern border with Macedonia blocked rail traffic and demanded passage to western Europe on Monday.

“Volunteers have witnessed very shocking situations during the past few days”.

While people continue to protest and join the 10 men on hunger strike, some men have written “Iran” across their foreheads, and “Help” across their bodies.

“The camp in Idomeni is already full of the people who are not allowed to cross the border”.

“One of the guards hit me on the back of my head and in my ribs with the butt of his rifle and I fell over and started to bleed”. He added that he wanted to go “to any free country in the world”. Every asylum seeker should have the right for his case to be heard.

“Macedonia can not open its doors for those who can not be accommodated in the European Union, mostly due to the fact that they do not arrive in Macedonia with the goal of staying here, instead they want to travel to European Union member states”.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have passed through Greece over the past year, but increased scrutiny became a priority after the November 13 terror attacks in Paris, France, that killed 129 and wounded more than 350 others. The weather is getting colder on a daily basis. “We risk violating human rights and asylum law”. They are not processing individual claims.

They were demonstrating over Balkan countries introducing a policy of filtering migrants based on their country of origin.

Poland’s new Prime Minister Beata Szydlo says the country is not ready to take in 7,000 refugees, a figure accepted by the previous government. It said: “Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria they are human”.

He told reporters Monday that some of those seeking asylum in Austria are only “so-called refugees”, suggesting they have no reason to seek the safe haven reserved for those fleeing war and persecution.