Croatia Closes Its Border Crossings With Serbia as Thousands of Refugees Enter

In Croatia, 5,000 migrants have arrived in the country since Hungary imposed its crackdown, which included the building of a huge wall created to keep migrants out.

Within minutes of Hungary closing its border on Monday, the news had filtered back to the many thousands of migrants already trekking there.

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.

Hungary has begun to build a fence on its border with Croatia and will set up a “transit zone” near the village of Beremend where migrants entering from Croatia can request asylum.

More than 70 buses full of people from Serbia are also on their way to the border with Croatia despite the government pleading with people not to come.

Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic told Croatian TV on Wednesday that the police were now in control of the situation but that if migrants continued to arrive in large numbers then the authorities would have to think about taking a different approach. Milanović said to migrants, “You are welcome in Croatia, and you can pass through Croatia”.

Croatian officials also claimed that Zagreb and Budapest agreed to create a corridor for migrants to continue their travels north and west, with Hungarian Foreign Ministry calling that a “pure lie”. “Croatia will not become a migrant hotspot”.

However, refugees will not stay long in that town.

According to the BBC, Croatia has been overwhelmed by the new arrivals.

Milanovic, the Croatian Prime Minister, appealed on Friday to the European Union to step in and help. However, Croatia has now closed all but one of its border crossings with Serbia.

The crisis has challenged the Schengen regime, with Germany, Austria and Slovakia all reimposing checks on parts of their borders.

“Croatia has closed highways leading in from Serbia”.

But the EU Migration Commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, says he hopes the summit succeeds in convincing reluctant eastern European states to sign up to a quota system for the distribution of refugees.

On Wednesday, Milanović had optimistically declared the country was “ready to accept and direct” refugees and migrants.

Meanwhile, aides to Pope Francis said he was putting up a Syrian refugee family from Damascus in a Vatican apartment.