Thousands of migrants in limbo as Macedonia turns them away

Thousands of migrants who are not fleeing from violence in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, are being turned away from Macedonia, with many protesting along the Greek border.

On Sunday, about 100 men from Morocco and Iran shouted "We want to live!" and "We are not terrorists!" as riot police formed a barricade. Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia announced similar restrictions last week; Macedonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that while refugees must receive "humane treatment," the country must also "secure control of our borders." The area is filled with migrants who are trying to get to Western Europe, and the U.N. estimates 700,000 have arrived in Greece this year alone — 62 percent are from Syria, 23 percent from Afghanistan, and 7 percent from Iraq, with 8 percent from other countries.

Some asylum-seekers say that even though they aren’t from Syria or Iraq, they face danger at home — one musician, wearing a necklace with a cross, told The Washington Post he was a convert to Christianity. "If I go back to Iran, they will kill me," he said. "We are so sad for Paris. But we are not terrorists. We just don't have freedom. What is the difference between Iranian people and Syrian people?" He also showed off scars on his arms, and said: "This is what happens in Iran." Doctors Without Borders and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees say 1,500 migrants have been denied entry to Macedonia, and they have set up several tents in Greece for those who have not been allowed to cross the border. "This will bring a lot of suffering to the people trying to get through," Ljubinka Brashnarska of the UNHCR told the Post. "People seeking asylum need to be screened on individual merit, not on the basis of their nationality."

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