According to the ANA-MPA News Agency, 200 migrants, most of them from Iran, are at the border with FYROM and are blocking the narrow path into the neighbouring country, after FYROM border authorities turned them down. FYROM is now allowing through only people from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
Another 5,000 people are expected to arrive at the border by the end of the day via buses.
The Associated Press cites an United Nations Refugee Agency spokesperson in Serbia, Melita Sunjic who claimed that Serbia now applies the same criteria. Croatia is 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 also plans to decline entry on people who they consider to be economic migrants, according to a Reuters report.
Following Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead, European nations have expressed their 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 at 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 travel each day.
