Croatia is not closing its borders, but has reached its capacity and will redirect people to Slovenia and Hungary, Prime Minister Zoran Milanović has said.
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On Wednesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees urged Europe to make changes, such as establishing reception centers in Greece (where more than 300,000 people have made their first landfall).
Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic asked the army on Thursday to be ready, if necessary, to protect national borders from illegal migration.
German Federal Police told NBC News Friday that 2,424 refugees and migrants entered the country on Thursday.
Amid desperate scenes at a railway station on Croatia’s eastern frontier, where thousands were left stranded overnight under open skies, the European Union called an emergency summit next week to try to overcome disarray in the 28-nation bloc.
It’s police minister has told Vatican Radio that those still entering will be arrested, adding to fresh concerns over Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War Two.
Local media reported small groups of migrants crossing into Hungary from Croatia on Thursday.
The operation got under way as 19 buses carried refugees across the border to Beremend, Hungary, where they were put on Hungarian buses.
Social affairs minister Aleksandar Vulin said Serbia will take Croatia to global courts if the border crossings remain closed, arguing that Croatia should have been prepared for the influx. It has deployed hundreds of police and soldiers to the border.
After taking in thousands of refugees in less than three days, Croatian officials announced that the country can not cope with the number of people coming across the Balkans from crisis areas in Africa and the Middle East.
Many appeared to be arriving from the Serbian-Hungarian border, where their path is blocked by Hungarian riot police, a metal fence and strict new laws that have seen asylum claims rejected in quick succession and those caught illegally crossing the border expelled.
And Hungary has started building a fence on its border with Croatia, in addition to two others along its borders with Serbia and Romania.
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Many are heading for Slovenia – but police there have stopped a train carrying 150 refugees and say they will be returned to Croatia.
