On Thursday, hundreds of migrants clashed with Macedonian riot police at the border as they tried to force their way through the cordon.
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Although the measures have garnered criticism from different human-rights groups, which are warning that asylum should be granted on merit and not by nationality, the countries are not showing signs they will alter their newly implemented filtering.
Balkan countries have clamped down at their borders recently to stem the largely unchecked stream of people, leaving tens of thousands stranded in Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia. But there were signs on Tuesday that the tide was starting to ebb somewhat – although relief officials cautioned that it was too early to declare a trend.
Just 155 migrants arrived on Greek islands by sea last Sunday, according to the International Organization for Migration, compared with an average of 4,500 crossings per day since the beginning of November.
Members of the Frontex, European Border Protection Agency, from…
They might have to wait for a while, however, as Balkan countries have implemented tougher rules on who qualifies for refugee status.
Refugees fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq continue to pour into the European Union, funneling through Macedonia.
The United Nations has condemned the new profiling of asylum seekers.
About six men, some believed to be from Iran’s Kurdish minority, sewed their lips shut as a mark of their refusal to turn back toward their home countries.
“All people have the right to seek asylum, irrespective of their nationality and to have their individual cases heard. Proper information needs to be provided to people affected by decisions at border points, and proper counseling needs to be available”, Edwards noted.
Some 800 people are stuck on the border, mostly Iranians, Moroccans, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.
Investigators say that two of the terrorists who carried out the Paris attacks in which more than 120 people have died reached France via Greece by pretending to be refugees, although their identities remain to be unknown.
Finland, which has seen a tenfold increase in asylum-seekers this year to an expected 35,000, adopted ID checks and tighter border controls in September.
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Milos Bicanski/Getty Images Iranian migrants huddle together in blankets and jackets amid cool temperatures near Idomeni, Greece.
