Iranian Refugees Sew Their Mouths Shut In Protest Against Greek-Macedonian

A scuffle broke out between a wall of Macedonian police officers and Iranian migrants stuck in limbo along the Greek border Thursday, days after shivering migrants stitched their lips shut in protest of new border rules.

About 750 stranded migrants remained camped out near the border village of Idomeni, police said. Only those fleeing armed conflict in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are allowed to cross as they are typically being granted asylum in the EU. About 5,000 migrants are reaching Europe each day along the so-called Balkan migrant route, stoking tensions among the countries along the migrant corridor including Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.

Balkan countries have increased border security to stem what has been an anarchic, largely unchecked stream of humanity into Europe.

United Nations officials said the new, uncoordinated obstacles that have stranded migrants on several frontiers in the Balkans threatened a “new humanitarian situation” that required urgent attention given the onset of winter. “We risk violating human rights and asylum law”.

“Nonetheless, the environment is significantly worsened for people seeking asylum and that’s a very major concern”, Edwards said.

“We can’t wait any longer, last night we slept under the rain”, Heritier Shabani, a 31-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of Congo who was among the more than 200 trying to get through, told AFP.

“The Greeks aren’t telling us anything”, he said.

“There has been no landing in Italy since the 19th of November”.

Millman also cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

So far this year, an estimated 350,000 refugees and migrants have entered Europe. Only 148 refugees have been relocated to other European Union countries – Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden, Mr Edwards said.