Iranian migrants sew their lips in protest in Macedonia

Stranded Iranian migrant Hamid, 34, an electrical engineer from the Iranian town of Sanandij sits on rail tracks in front of Macedonian riot police guarding the border between Greece and Macedonia near the Greek village of Idomeni November 23, 2015.

Groups of people have been seen trying to warm up around bonfires on a cold night on the Greek side of the border.

About six migrants had earlier sewed their lips together in a protest. Last week, Balkan countries announced that they would only open their borders to people fleeing countries affected by war such as, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

They took the action on Monday as several hundred migrants, many from Iran and Morocco, protested for a fourth straight day at the border.

The Macedonian authorities followed the example of Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, which are also on the Balkan refugee transit route, in an attempt to keep out what they regard as economic migrants.

But it urged a more “coordinated and European-wide response” in the aftermath of “the attacks in Paris and ahead of the coming winter months”. Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees are allowed through.

Greek police confirmed that a second man identified by French authorities as a Paris attacker crossed Greek territory posing as an asylum seeker before the carnage.

“We are not terrorists”. Refugees from countries other than Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan have been classified as only “economic migrants” and told to return to their own countries. We haven’t any choice, we should go to Allemagne [Germany], we should go to German, we haven’t any choice. At least three have slogans painted on their chests, including “Shoot us or save us” and “Shoot us we never go back Bangladesh (sic)”.

According to Al Jazeera, the move to restrict the passage for migrants to only those fleeing war-torn countries is being opposed by rights groups, who insist that admission should be granted on the basis of merit and not by nationality.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said the checkpoint at the country’s Gevgelija crossing had “become a bottleneck for migrants and refugees” where “security risks are increasing”.