Croatia seeks to redirect migrants toward Hungary, Slovenia

Huge numbers of people heading north from the Mediterranean have created a political crisis in the European Union.

“What is more, we see intentional participation in human smuggling, taking these migrants to the Hungarian border“.

Croatia reversed its open-door policy after 17,000 arrivals since Wednesday.

However, the Croatian officials denied that such incident took place.

The Hungarian government decried the bussing of people across its borders, but appeared to accept them by moving them to be registered.

More than 2,000 migrants are stuck in the Croatian border town of Tovarnik, near Serbia, sleeping on station platforms or in the street.

Hungary’s tough stance earned it a rebuke from Serbia over the use of tear gas on its territory, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was ‘shocked’.

Ahmad, a 22-year-old from Syria, says he almost drowned while crossing the Mediterranean Sea in a boat to reach Greece before traveling on through Macedonia and Serbia.

For its part, Austria, which sits between Hungary and Germany, said that if a corridor was being created, nobody had coordinated with its interior ministry.

More than 5,000 people broke through a police cordon and ran across corn fields when told they would not be taken to the European Union after being kept out in the searing heat all day long.

Amid chaotic scenes in Croatia, hundreds of asylum seekers surged past security forces on Thursday to continue their journey to Western Europe.

Later on Friday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker offered Croatia “technical and logistical assistance” for coping with the flood of migrants, during a phone call with Prime Minister Milovanovic.

Croatia has suddenly become the latest hotspot in the 1,000-mile plus exodus toward Western Europe after Hungary sealed off its border Tuesday with a razor-wire fence and then used tear gas, batons and water cannons to keep the migrants out.

Hungary’s new laws made attempts to cross its frontier illegal, and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Friday accused Croatia of encouraging “masses of people to commit a criminal offence”.

Croatian border officials closed six of seven border crossings, with only the one at the main road linking Belgrade and Zagreb left open.

It has closed its rail service to Croatia.

Earlier this week Orban said Hungary might erect a fence along its border with Romania, bringing a stinging reaction from Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta. That blocked the easiest route to Germany, where many hope to apply for asylum.

Stone said police had stopped him to ask how many more refugees were coming.

The family – a father, a mother and their two children – were Melkite Greek Catholics with close ties to the Catholic Church.