Rival Migrant Gangs Erupt Into Violence in Croatia

Refugees wait inside the train that will bring them to the capital Zagreb in Osijek, near Hungarian border in Croatia.

A Hungarian police spokesman said on Friday that migrants sent to Hungary by Croatia were being taken by bus from the border to two Hungarian registration points in Szentgotthard and Vamosszabadi, near crossings into Austria.

Migrants have been streaming into Croatia for two days, their path to western Europe via Hungary blocked by a metal fence, the threat of imprisonment and riot police who fired teargas and water cannon on Wednesday to drive back stone-throwing men. A large crane lifted barriers onto the bridge.

Hungary is apparently directing them to Austria, which also tightened border controls this week and added troops to check documents of those entering the country.

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”. It was now sending thousands of refugees or migrants north, angering Slovenia and Hungary. Women carrying children and people in wheelchairs were among the thousands rushing in the heat in hopes of finding refuge.

Ferenc Gyurcsany said Friday he believed the police attack Wednesday was carried out “without a doubt” on direct orders of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia’s social affairs minister, said Serbia will take Croatia to worldwide courts if the global border crossings remain closed, arguing that it should have been prepared for the influx.

All rail traffic from Serbia to Croatia has been stopped.

Around 150 migrants spent hours overnight stranded at the Dobova railway station on Slovenia’s side of the border.

“What’s missing is a collective European Union action”, he said.

They have been dumped here by Croatian police after crossing into the country from Serbia. “So they need to do it together”.

That move cut off a key route into the European Union used this year by more than 200,000 people, many of them fleeing violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The global Organization for Migration puts those figures at 473,887 and 2,812.