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Stranded migrants sew mouths shut in protest against Balkan border controls Stranded migrants sew mouths shut in protest against Balkan border controls
(about 5 hours later)
Moroccans, Iranians and Pakistanis on Greece’s northern border with Macedonia have blocked rail traffic and demanded passage to western Europe, stranded by a policy of filtering migrants in the Balkans that has raised human rights concerns. Seven men have sewed shut their mouths and more than a thousand Iranians, Moroccans and Pakistanis have blocked a train line on the Greek-Macedonian border, in protest against a recent decision by some Balkan countries to block certain nationalities from heading towards northern Europe.
Six Iranians sewed their mouths shut during the protest. Asked where he wanted to go, one of the Iranian men – a 34-year-old electrical engineer named Hamid – said: “To any free country in the world. I cannot go back. I will be hanged.” For the first time since hundreds of thousands of people began marching through the Balkans earlier this year, the Macedonian government began filtering them last week on the basis of their perceived need, and is now preventing access for those not from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The move has led to fears of a migrant logjam in Greece, and sparked fury among those trapped on the border.
Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Syrians fleeing war, have made the trek across the Balkan peninsula after arriving by boat and dinghy in Greece from Turkey, and headed for the more affluent countries of northern and western Europe, mainly Germany and Sweden.
Related: Greek concerns mount over refugees as Balkan countries restrict entryRelated: Greek concerns mount over refugees as Balkan countries restrict entry
Last week, however, Slovenia, a member of Europe’s Schengen zone of passport-free travel, declared it would only grant passage to those fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and that all others deemed “economic migrants” would be sent back. Many chanted in protest on Monday against the decision and tried to block the path of those allowed to cross the border. Pakistanis held posters highlighting the human rights violations in their country, noting in particular recent bloodshed in Peshawar. Seven men also tied their mouths shut with string and twine after being trapped on the border for up to six days. Most of the seven are believed to be from Iran, but aid workers at the site said it was hard to discern their exact circumstances and motivations.
That prompted others on the route – Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia – to do the same, leaving growing numbers stranded in tents and around campfires on Balkan borders with winter approaching. “It’s difficult to communicate with them,” said Gemma Gillie, a representative of Médecins Sans Frontières who witnessed the scene at the border on Monday. “But they’ve been protesting silently and nothing’s happened – so that’s why they’re doing this.”
Rights groups have questioned the policy, insisting that asylum should be granted on merit, not on the basis of nationality. According to the UN refugee agency, roughly one in 10 people walking through the Balkans are not Syrian, Afghan or Iraqi. Macedonia no longer wants to give them safe passage since it believes their lives are not in danger and fearsthey may end up stuck on Macedonian soil if countries further to the north begin to filter people in a similar way. In a test case last Wednesday, Slovenia tried to return more than a hundred Moroccans to Croatia, prompting Macedonia to introduce its own restrictions.
“To classify a whole nation as economic migrants is not a principle recognised in international law,” said Rados Djurovic, director of the Belgrade-based Asylum Protection Centre. “We risk violating human rights and asylum law,” he told Serbian state television. Rights groups have questioned the wisdom of blocking people based on their nationality, and argued that each case needs to be assessed on its individual merit. Some Balkan politicians have also expressed unease at the development, with Croatia’s interior minister noting that the circumstances in many countries was too complex to be treated in such a monolithic way.
The new measure coincides with rising concern, particularly on the political right in Europe, over the security risk of the chaotic and often unchecked flow of humanity into Europe in the aftermath of the attacks in Paris by Islamist militants in which 130 people died. “It’s very difficult to say. What is Yemen? Is it in a war or not?” asked Ranko Ostojić, the Croatian interior minister, tolf the Guardian on Monday.
It has emerged that two suicide bombers involved in the attacks took the same trail, arriving by boat in Greece and then travelling north across the Balkans. Most of the attackers, however, were citizens of France or Belgium. He added that it was misguided to attempt to stop the passage of so many people, given that all land borders are in some way porous. “There’s no possibility of making a full stop. There’s no wall that will stop them totally,” he said.
On the Macedonian-Greek border, crowds of Moroccans, Iranians and others blocked the railway line running between the two countries, halting at least one train that tried to cross, a Reuters photographer said. Macedonia’s prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, said he had no intention of stopping people who his government deemed in need of humanitarian protection. But on Sunday, he said Europe needed to introduce better border security measures, alluding to the way that at least one of the assailants in the Paris attacks is believed to have reached France after landing in Greece and walking through the Balkans.
A group of Bangladeshis had stripped to the waist and written slogans on their chests in red paint. “Shoot us, we never go back,” read one. “Shoot us or save us,” read another. Gruevski said: “The status quo is untenable and short-term recommendations do nothing to solve the problem. Macedonia knows that the only solution is European-wide expanded cooperation, real-time exchange of information and additional support so that we may ensure appropriate security and humanitarian outcomes for all involved.”
Refugees making their way through the Balkans, after being allowed to pass through Macedonia, warned against scapegoating them for the actions of Islamic State terrorists in Paris.
“We left home because of those kind of people,” said Jomana Mohamad, whose home in Kobane, northern Syria, was destroyed during an assault by Isis. “We’re running from the same thing that they experienced in Paris, because we’ve experienced that 10 times over.”
Mohamad’s husband, Ahmad, is pushing his mother, a wheelchair user, through the Balkans – a decision he said he had not taken lightly. “Of course we miss Syria,” he said as his eyes teared up. “But there is no life there, and we just want to live.”