Some 200 Iranians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis held protests at the border between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece, after new profiling procedures left around 1,000 refugees stranded there, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Eleven people have reportedly sewn up their mouths and 60 are on hunger strike amid mounting desperation among those stuck at the border, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
Syrian, Afghans and Iraqis are being allowed to cross while other nationalities are being stopped at Greece's border with FYRM and with Serbia due to the profiling and other restrictions, according to UNHCR.
"A new humanitarian situation is developing in Europe that needs urgent attention, said UNHCR, warning that refugees and migrants would continue arriving in Europe via Greece throughout the winter and into 2016.
The chaos could drive even more people into the clutches of people smugglers, UNHCR said.
A record one million people will seek refuge in Europe this year, fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to the Paris-based OECD think-tank.
The European Union is predicting that three million more migrants could cross the borders into member nations by the end of next year.
More than 750,000 asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have entered Europe this year, most of them via Greece amid the world's biggest-ever migration crisis.
