Croatia Migrants Full Capacity

Croatia has closed seven of its eight road border crossings with Serbia following a huge influx of migrants.

Slovenia has been returning refugees to Croatia and has stopped all rail traffic.

After almost 10,000 refugees and migrants entered Croatia in the past two days, the country has placed its army on alert to deploy on the country’s border with Serbia. The country is preparing for the inevitable influx, building shelters and setting up tents.

Mr Avramopoulos said he considered it a “Christian duty” to handle the migration crisis with compassion.

“I was shocked to see how these refugees and migrants were treated”. “We have a heart but we also have a brain”.

With the flow into Croatia reaching more than 13,000, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic warned matters were out of control and that his government would no longer be able to register or accommodate the migrants. Slovenian police have intercepted dozens of people who tried to cross through the forests overnight into the country from Croatia.

Tovarnik: Amid chaotic scenes at its border with Serbia, Croatia said on Thursday it could not cope with a flood of migrants seeking a new route into the European Union after Hungary kept them out by erecting a fence and using tear gas and water cannon against them.

On Thursday armed police in Croatia initially contained 2,000 migrants who had gathered at Tovarnik railway station after being told transport was available. They punish people, that’s all I can say, they punish people.

“Is this the way Europe treats people?” asked another perplexed man.

According to an AFP correspondent, some 22 buses arrived at the border opposite the Hungarian village Beremend, each carrying around 60 people.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said he believed the police reaction was justified and the criticisms unfounded because the migrants, he said, were throwing stones and concrete at officers. Serbian officials protested the move, fearing that the closure would leave thousands of migrants stranded inside its own territory. Most plan to travel on, passing through Slovenia and then Austria en route to their final destination, which for most is Germany or the Scandinavian countries.

The EU’s border agency, Frontex, estimates that more than 500,000 migrants have arrived so far this year, although that number could be conservative as the refugee registration process appears haphazard.

“We will stay here until they let us through”, said Sami Bustani from Homs, Syria, whose large family, including two small children, sat on the ground eating only bread.