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Men marched with “please open the border” banners and reportedly refused food from a humanitarian aid group, which visited the derelict warehouses in Belgrade.

Demonstrators chanted “open the border” and held signs saying “stop the violence” and “we want peace worldwide” after more than a thousand refugees spent weeks braving extreme weather conditions without adequate heating.

Others held up a large banner emblazoned with the words “freedom of movement”.

While Serbia is not part of the European Union, it borders member states Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania and has become a transit point for those hoping to reach western Europe.