Migrant crisis:
Croatia closes border crossings with Serbia
Croatia has closed
seven of its eight road border crossings with Serbia following a huge
influx of migrants.
Officials in Zagreb
said they had no choice after more than 10,000 people entered the
country a day after Hungary fenced off its border with Serbia.
Meanwhile, Slovenia
said it had stopped a group of migrants on a train and would return
them to Croatia.
Huge numbers of
people heading north from the Mediterranean have created a political
crisis in the European Union.
Croatian officials
said roads leading to the border crossings had also been shut.
The crossing on the
main road linking Belgrade and Zagreb - at Bajakovo - appeared to be
the only one left open.
The BBC's Guy
Delauney in Zagreb says the closures have cut off the main land route
from Greece to northern Europe.
Croatia has tried to
take people to asylum centres but the overwhelming numbers mean that
many people have been left on the streets, he says.
Some have told the
BBC they plan to walk north to neighbouring Slovenia which is in the
EU's border-free Schengen Area.
On Thursday,
Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said his country was
"absolutely full".
He said his message
to the migrants was: "Don't come here any more. Stay in refugee
centres in Serbia and Macedonia and Greece. This is not the road to
Europe. Buses can't take you there. It's a lie."
Croatian Prime
Minister Zoran Milanovic said the country had "limited
capacity".
Scuffles broke out
in two locations on the border with Serbia on Thursday after people
were left waiting for hours for transport further north.
Crowds briefly broke
through police lines at Tovarnik and Batina - two of the crossings
now closed.
The BBC's Lyse
Doucet, at Tovarnik, said buses arrived just before midnight but not
enough to transport everyone. Drivers said people were being taken to
a reception centre. Thousands of people left behind are spending the
night sleeping on roadsides and in fields.
There was a mad rush
as the first train for 24 hours pulled in on Thursday evening, she
adds.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário