Croatian minister says corridor towards European Union won’t be opened

Reuters reporters saw hundreds of migrants, some of whom identified themselves as Iraqis, trek through fields near the official Sid border crossing between Serbia and its fellow former Yugoslav republic, since 2013 a member of the EU.

Serbia’s prime minister has condemned the “brutal treatment” of migrants by Hungarian police and warned the neighbouring country not to fire tear gas onto its territory again.

Police also used tear-gas and water cannon against people throwing bottles and stones.

A girl cries after coming in contact with tear gas during clashes between migrants and Hungarian police at the border with Serbia and near the town of Horgos.

Hungary has already blocked its border with Serbia by building a 175-kilometer razor wire fence, to stop refugees fleeing Middle East wars moving through Hungary to Western Europe.

A spokesperson for the Hungarian government said the migrants were “armed with pipes and sticks”.

“Only yesterday they said they would close the border for illegal crossings, not for those who wish to express their intention to (seek) asylum”. Hungary has declared a state of emergency in two of its southern counties bordering Serbia because of the migrat… According to Szijjarto, some were actually economic immigrants.

Meanwhile, Austria began selective controls of vehicles at three main border crossings with Hungary as it tries to impose some order over the stream of people.

After reports said that Hungary will soon start preparatory work to extend the border fence along its Serbian frontier eastwards towards Romania, the Romanian Foreign Ministry criticised the development.

The BBC’s Guy Delauney comments that Serbs’ “hitherto admirable tolerance and empathy” for refugees may be tested if they can not leave the country via Hungary.

More than 500 people have been killed by land mines in Croatia in the past 20 years.

Refugee women reportedly held small babies and children above their heads as they appealed to be let across the border, which has been closed since yesterday.

The first refugees have arrived near the Croatian frontier, carving out a new route through Europe after Hungary sealed its borders.

“Police have contacted us and we sent a team to the border area in eastern Croatia”, an official at the Croatian Demining Centre told Reuters, asking not to be named. Few, if any, want to remain in financially strapped Greece, with most heading north overland through the Balkans to more prosperous European countries such as Germany and Sweden.