Thousands
arrive in Croatia after migrant clashes at Hungary border
New migrants were continuing to enter the European Union (EU) member on
its eastern border, which became their new route on the journey to western
Europe.
ZAGREB: Thousands of migrants arrived in Croatia early on
Thursday (Sep 17) seeking to open up a new route to northern Europe, after Hungary
sealed its border, sparking ferocious clashes with angry refugees.
Around 4,000 migrants had arrived in EU member state from Serbia
in the last 24 hours, the state-run television channel HRT said, as a special
train transporting some 800 migrants from Tovarnik, near the Serbian border,
arrived in Dugo Selo, near Zagreb, an AFP photographer reported.
The UN's refugee agency said later that between 4,000 and 5,000
refugees were trying to reach the Croatian capital by train.
They are desperate to get around the border fence Hungary has
thrown up along its border with Serbia, where tensions boiled into violence
Wednesday at the flashpoint Horgos-Roszke crossing, after around 500 refugees
had been blocked on their march north.
Furious people tore down the wire meshing separating them from
Hungarian territory, and police clashed for hours with hundreds of migrants,
some of whom threw stones, sticks and plastic bottles as police used tear gas
and water cannon.
The unrest left 14 police officers injured, the authorities
said.
SITUATION CALM
The situation at the crossing - one of the main junctions in the
migrant route north towards Germany and Sweden - was calm early on Thursday,
AFP reporters said.
Around 400 migrants had slept in sleeping bags on the road,
while others had spent the night in neighbouring fields.
Hungary's tough stance earned it a rebuke from Serbia over the
use of tear gas on its territory, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said
he was "shocked."
Gyorgy Bakondi, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief
adviser, said the response had come after migrants had issued an
"ultimatum" to police, demanding to be let through.
"We will repair the fence, in fact we will put up a
stronger fence," he told a news conference.
Migrants run away from
tear gas thrown by Hungarian anti-riot police officers at the Hungarian border
with Serbia near the town of Horgos on Sep 16, 2015. (Photo: AFP/Armend Nimani)
On Tuesday, Hungary closed the razorwire-topped border and
implemented new laws threatening three-year jail sentences against anyone who
crosses illegally.
Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said the country was
prepared for the arrival of migrants displaced by the Hungarian move. But it
could not cope if the numbers increased dramatically.
"We are ready to (provide) asylum to a few thousand people
and we can handle that, but we are not ready for tens of thousands," Pusic
told HRT. "We do not have capacities" for such an influx, she added.
From the Alps to Istanbul, thousands of other migrants were
caught in similar bottlenecks, with hundreds setting out to walk to Germany
from the Austrian border city of Salzburg after trains north were suspended.
In Paris, authorities Thursday started to clear two makeshift
camps housing more than 500 migrants and offered them accommodation in various
centres.
POLITICAL PRESSURE
Pressure is building for an EU summit to come up with solutions
to the continent's worst migration crisis since World War II, with the bloc
bitterly split and free movement across borders - a pillar of the European
project - in jeopardy.
EU President Donald Tusk was to announce a decision on Thursday
on whether to call the summit.
Also Thursday, the European Parliament in Brussels was to hold a
special vote on plans to relocate 120,000 refugees from Greece, Hungary and Italy,
after EU ministers failed to reach agreement earlier this week.
One of the big fears is for the future of Europe's 20-year-old
Schengen agreement, which allows borderless travel between some member states,
and is considered as important as the euro by many EU supporters.
Germany, Austria and Slovakia have all reimposed identity checks
on parts of their borders, and Poland and the Netherlands are considering
whether to follow suit.
Thousands arrive in Croatia after migrant clashes at Hungary border
Reviewed by Ajit Kumar
on
2:50 PM
Rating:
No comments: