The Macedonian army has begun erecting a metal fence on the country's southern border with Greece at the point where migrants cross en route to western Europe.
Soldiers on Saturday began driving long metal poles into the ground and rolling out wire, building a barrier similar to that erected by Hungary on its southern border with Serbia and Croatia to keep out the wave of migrants.
Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis are flowing largely unimpeded across the Balkans having landed by boat and dinghy in Greece from Turkey. But citizens of all other countries are being turned back, leading to a build-up at the Macedonian-Greek border and days of protests by Iranians, Pakistanis, Moroccans and others.
A senior Macedonian government official, who declined to be named, said the new fence was "just a preventive measure".
"We are not closing the border completely," the official said, describing it as an attempt to funnel the flow.
"We will still allow the migrants from war-affected countries to pass."
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