BELGRADE (Sputnik) — Some 1,300 migrants blocked international railway from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Skopje on Monday, demanding the authorities to let them into Macedonia and then further into the European Union.
There are around 1.000 refugees from #Iran #Bangladesh #Somalia #Algiers & #Pakistan @ #Macedonia-#Greece border not being allowed to pass.
— Vladimir Petreski (@VPetreski) 23 ноября 2015
The migrants gathered near the Greek checkpoint of Idomeni in what appears to be the third day of the protest.
#refugees stuck on #Greece #Macedonia border continue their protest to get border open. Some here 4-5 days pic.twitter.com/ddEpkZKB5V
— Lydia Gall (@LydsG) 22 ноября 2015
On November 18, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia limited access to their countries for economic migrants, those who originate not from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The move came after the deadly Paris attacks on November 13 raised security concerns all over Europe.
Europe has been beset by a refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries to escape violence and poverty. Many of them take the West Balkan route, which crosses Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, using the countries as a transit zone to enter the bloc and travel to wealthier EU states where they intend to apply for asylum.
EU border agency Frontex recorded over 1.2 million illegal border crossings into the European Union in the first 10 months of 2015.