Migrants: Croatia refuses to become ‘hotspot’

(Above: Syrians and Afghans clash at the railway station at Beli Manastir, Croatia)

The 13,000 migrants, many of them refugees from the Middle East and Africa, have been arriving in Croatia since Wednesday, after Hungary blocked their path with a metal fence and riot police at its border with Serbia.

“We cannot register and accommodate these people any longer,” Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said. “They will get food, water and medical help, and then they can move on. The European Union must know that Croatia will not become a migrant hotspot. We have hearts, but we also have heads.”

A record 473,887 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, the International Organisation for Migration said, most of them from countries at war, such as Syria.

Hundreds of thousands have been making their way across the Balkan peninsula to reach the richer European countries in the north and west, especially Germany, which is preparing to accept 800,000 asylum seekers this year.

Quotas

The 28-member EU has not been able to agree a quota system for absorbing migrants in what has become the biggest movement of people since the Second World War.

Hungary, used by migrants en route to Austria and Germany, has closed its border with its southern neighbour Serbia, leaving thousands of people scattered across the Balkans searching for alternative routes.

When some of these people made their way to Croatia, Zagreb allowed them in, but has subsequently said it cannot register them all and has closed seven of eight border crossings.

Some migrants have travelled to Slovenia instead, trekking through fields to evade the police, but the Slovenian government has now stopped trains on the main rail line from Croatia.

There have been angry reactions from some migrants to the obstacles put in their way. At the Croatian town of Beli Manastir, just over the border from Hungary, groups of Syrian and Afghan men fought outside a ticket office as they waited for trains to Zagreb (watch video above).

At Tovarnik railway station in Croatia, around 3,000 migrants waited in the heat for buses and trains. “I didn’t expect such a reaction from Europe,” said Dara Jaffar, from Aleppo in Syria. “They first open the doors then they close them. They punish the people.”

Several EU states, including Germany, have temporarily suspended Schengen rules on the free movement of people. Other countries have refused to accept any refugees and blame Germany for encouraging them to come.