This migrant says: “People who leave their country because of war are trying to escape death in search of a better life”.
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Some 2,000 people have gathered in the eastern Croatian border town of Tovarnik waiting for buses or trains to take them to refugee centres in the capital Zagreb and elsewhere.
Croatia and Germany pulled in their welcome mats to refugees, with Zagreb asking migrants not to come and Berlin proposing substantial cuts in its generous benefits to asylum seekers.
German police also said 4,000 migrants yesterday crossed the border with Austria. According to officials, at least 9,200 refugees have entered into Syria, prompting Croatia’s interior minister to declare the country “absolutely full”.
Meanwhile, there are fears that refugees who have been turned away at the Hungarian border may try to cross Croatian minefields to reach safety in western Europe.
HORGOS, Serbia, Sept 17 Hundreds of migrants have left Serbia’s northern border with Hungary by bus bound for Croatia, emptying makeshift camps created after European Union-member Hungary sealed its frontier.
Croatia threatened to close its border with Serbia as migrants fled from overwhelmed police, trekked through fields and tried to steal into Slovenia by train in a desperate march westwards that is sowing discord and recrimination in Europe.
Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic asked the army on Thursday to be ready, if necessary, to protect national borders from illegal migration, the state news agency Hina reported.
“I was shocked to see how these refugees and migrants were treated”.
Police were forced to stand aside after they failed to hold back the wave of throng of people.
The refugee crisis is getting worse, as Croatia and Slovenia follow Hungary’s example. Both have reinstated border checks.
“They want to take us to the camps, but we don’t want that”, said one man as he set off, without giving his name.
Across southeast Europe, nations closed borders, blocked bridges, shut down trains and built new razor-wire fences today in a rush to block tens of thousands seeking safety in Western Europe from crossing their territories.
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Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has warned his country has limited capacity for accepting and registering thousands of migrants arriving from Hungary. Romania responded with alarm Thursday after Hungary said that fence would be 70 kilometres long, saying that would violate European standards.
