Greek travelers flying into German airports since November 12 have described increased security checks as “humiliating.”

“Upon our arrival in Frankfurt on an Aegean Airlines flight we were taken out via the airplane’s back door and into the cold, and they left us to freeze on the tarmac,” one traveler told Kathimerini.

“They then put us on a bus, then left us on the tarmac again, before walking us to a remote area where we had to stand in line for 30 minutes,” he said, adding that they were questioned intensely by airport officials.

The increased checks come amid rising concern over refugee arrivals, which featured prominently during negotiations to form a new government in Berlin.

Last week Athens lodged a demarche with Berlin over the increased checks that contravene procedures stipulated in the Schengen Agreement.

A European Commission spokesman told Kathimerini that Germany was among the countries on October 11 and 12 that informed Brussels they were reintroducing internal border checks due to security concerns for a six-month period as of November 12, citing Article 25 of the Schengen Agreement.

Despite the demarche, sources said the Greek government is seeking to downplay the issue, preferring instead to place responsibility on German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who has been demanding tougher checks on people traveling from Greece.