Afghan migrants seeking to travel through the Balkans to northern Europe were barred from entering Macedonia today, Greek police on the border said.
"We were warned this morning that Macedonian authorities would no longer let Afghans pass," a Greek police official told AFP, adding that Macedonia justified its move by claiming that Serbia had made a similar decision.
The development came after Austria on Friday introduced a daily limit on asylum seekers entering and registering in the country, triggering EU fears of a domino effect along the so-called Balkan migrant route.
Today, Afghans seeking to enter into Macedonia through the Idomeni border crossing were pushed back, while only Syrians and Iraqis were allowed through.
A Greek government source confirmed the development, adding that Athens had received no official notice of the change from the Macedonian government.
"Greece condemns any unilateral action" on the management of the migrant crisis, the source added.
According to the UN refugee agency's representative Alexander Voulgaris, some 200 Afghans were being prevented from continuing their onward journeys.
Since November, countries on the Balkan route have allowed only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans to continue their journey up towards Germany, Sweden and other European nations where they plan to apply for asylum.
People from other countries, who were deemed economic migrants, have been pushed back, triggering human bottlenecks and leaving humanitarian organisations struggling to distribute aid.
Greek police now plan to stop Afghan migrants from travelling up to Idomeni from Athens -- their first port of call after reaching the Greek islands from Turkey -- "until the situation is clarified," the government source said.
"Iraqis and Syrians are crossing, but not us, why? Aren't we also human beings?" said Afghan migrant Sayed Wahab Sadat, a 26-year-old mechanic.
"I want to go to Germany to live and work in safety, where I come from my life is in danger," he said.
"We will stay here as long as it takes," said fellow Afghan Edriss, 30, adding that he too wanted to reach Germany.
On the Macedonian side of the border, Jasmin Rexhepi, who heads an NGO named LEGIS, said 700 Afghans were stuck "in the northern Tabanovci reception centre because Serbia did not allow them to cross the border".
"Macedonia started with this selection Sunday morning after seeing that Afghan migrants could not leave the country," Rexhepi told AFP by phone.
While Serbia's Immigration Minister Aleksandar Vulin denied there were any border closures, he implicitly admitted Afghans now faced a new obstacle by blaming neighbouring Slovenia and Austria.
