Migrants Spend Night Stuck On Macedonia Border

One Iranian man, declaring a hunger strike, stripped to the waist, sewed his lips together with nylon and sat down in front of lines of Macedonian riot police.

Europe’s border controls have come under renewed scrutiny since the attacks in Paris on 13 November.

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

At the borders between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia, nationals of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are being allowed to cross.

Ivanov said the economic migrants stuck at the border were preventing around 3,000 refugees fleeing war and conflict from continuing their journey. Lots of them can’t go back to their homelands as they would be criminally prosecuted. This move by countries like Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Serbia caused a mass of refugees to gather at the borders. Others are said to be injuring themselves so they can seek medical attention across the border, while others still were reported to have blocked at least one train from passing by lying down on the track.

Macedonia’s President Gjorgje Ivanov said on Saturday that the influx of “migrants” into the country has heightened tensions “between refugees and migrants, the migrants and police and army, and between migrants and local people”.

Hundreds of Iranian migrants are being prohibited from crossing the Greece-Macedonia border. Eastern European leaders say it’s an issue of economics, while others say the anti-migrant rhetoric it’s fueled by Islamophobia.

Some of the migrants told Macedonian media that they don’t have the money to go back and haven’t eaten for days.

Gaggles of migrants are now a common sight on the country lanes around Idomeni, as they search for a way past the border guards, and Elham said her Iranian friends were seeking traffickers to take them north.

“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 objective of staying here, instead they want to travel to European Union member states”.

The United Nations chief called on all countries in the region “to respond with compassion, solidarity and shared responsibility” to the mounting humanitarian challenge – and to ensure that their policies on screening asylum seekers adhere to worldwide refugee and human rights law, his spokesman said Tuesday.