Greece’s northern border with FYROM looks to be overwhelmed, after FYROM and other European countries begin turning down migrants from countries that are not engulfed in armed conflict.
According to the Athens Macedonian News Agency, 200 migrants, most of them fromĀ Iran, are at the border with FYROM and areĀ blocking the narrow path into the neighbouring country, after FYROM border authorities turned them down. FYROM is now accepting people only fromĀ Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
Another 5,000 people could arrive at the border by the end of the day via buses.
Rejection of entry based on citizenship is not only FYROM’s policy. The Associated Press cites an United Nations Refugee Agency spokesperson in Serbia Melita Sunjic who claimed that Serbia nowĀ appliesĀ the same measure. Croatia isĀ also accepting people only from these countries as well as Palestinians.
On Thursday, Serbia turned down 200 people who were travelling through FYROM. Only about 100 of these were accepted back into FYROM, with the remaining 100 being stuck on the border between the two countries, the AP reports.
Slovenia alsoĀ plansĀ to declineĀ entryĀ on people who they consider toĀ be economic migrants, according to a Reuters report.
Following Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead, European nations have expressed theirĀ concern over the ongoing influx of migrants and refugees. Since the beginning of the year, 836,883 people have arrived in Europe with 689,886 of those entering through Greek territory.
The vast majority of those arriving atĀ the Greek Aegean islands will look to be transported to the mainland as soon as possible and then make their way further into Europe through FYROM.
Hungary has raised a fence along its borders with Serbia and Croatia, while FYROM is already in the process of erecting a fence on the border with Greece. This move is set to disrupt the main Balkan route through which thousands of migrants travelĀ each day.
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