Border stand-off worsens as Croatia busses

migrants to Hungary border

Hungary said more than 4,400 people had crossed from Croatia in 24 hours before it
closed the final stretch of a new razor wire barrier along the frontier

Refugees stand behind a fence blocking the crossing from Croatia to Slovenia
at the border checkpoint in Obretzje. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP
Agence France-Presse
Saturday 19 September 2015 06.16 BSTLast modified on Saturday
19 September 201506.28 BST

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Croatia has bussed hundreds of migrants to its border with Hungary,
ratcheting up tensions in Europes refugee crisis as police fired tear gas to
drive back several hundred people trying to enter Slovenia.
As Budapest said more than 4,400 people had crossed from Croatia in 24
hours before it closed the final stretch of a new razor wire barrier along the
frontier at midnight, Slovenia said it was considering corridors for refugees
through its territory and would take in up to 10,000 refugees.

Croatia 'will not become a

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minister
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Croatia earlier said it had reached saturation point after more than 17,000
people arrived on its soil in the last two days, and began channelling the flow
towards hardline Hungary, which has vowed to defend its borders from the
influx.

The move sparked a furious diplomatic row between the neighbours as

Budapest accused Zagreb of inciting refugees to break its tough new laws,
which include three-year jail terms for breaching its border fence.
Tensions later flared at Harmica on the Slovenian border with Croatia as
migrants began to mass after rail services north were suspended by Ljubljana.
Riot police used tear gas to stop several hundred migrants, some with
children, that were pushing against a police cordon at a bridge on the border
after a tense stand-off of more than an hour.
I just want to cross the border, said a young Syrian student at Harmica
wearing a black Iron Maiden T-shirt.
The clash happened shortly after Slovenian prime minister Miro Cerar said the
small Alpine country might consider the creation of corridors for refugees
wanting to reach northern Europe if they continue arriving in large numbers.

Croatia moves refugees to

Hungarian border - as it
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Slovenias ambassador to Germany, meanwhile told the Rheinische Post
newspaper his country would accept up to 10,000 refugees.
With no let-up in the flow of people desperate to find shelter in Europe from
war and misery, and thousands stranded by border closures and increasing
controls, new figures showed the European Union had received almost a
quarter of a million asylum requests in the three months to June.
As the body of another child washed up on a Turkish beach, the International
Organisation for Migration also said nearly 474,000 people had so far this
year braved perilous trips across the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

The four-year-old girl, who has yet to be identified, was found near the town of
Cesme after a boat carrying 15 Syrians to the Greek island of Chios sank, the
Anatolia news agency said.
Harrowing pictures of three-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi, who drowned as his
family tried to reach the Greek island of Kos, caused global dismay and
seemed to briefly galvanise a European response to the biggest refugee crisis
the continent has faced since the second world war.
But with eastern EU members fiercely resisting plans to take a share of the
new arrivals, and Hungary this week sealing its southern border with Serbia,
thousands of refugees have tried to open a new route to northern Europe
through Croatia and Slovenia.

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After two days of letting people in, Croatia on Friday announced it was unable
to cope, closing seven of the eight crossings along its eastern border with
Serbia and bussing some people to the Hungarian frontier.

Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusic later said Zagreb and Budapest had
agreed to allow vulnerable migrants to cross into Hungary.
By late afternoon around 20 buses, each carrying around 60 migrants, had
been allowed to cross the frontier.
Another 30 buses were waiting to cross in the evening.
Norway, I want to go to Norway, one woman, feeding her baby with a bottle,
could be heard telling a police officer as she stepped into Hungary.
With fears growing in eastern Europe it will be left responsible for the chaotic
situation, a top EU official vowed not to leave the region in the lurch.
You are not a parking lot for refugees, you are also victims of the situation
and we wont leave you, EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn told
the Macedonian parliament.
Luxembourgs foreign minister Jean Asselborn said the EU was also preparing
a substantial aid package for Turkey to help it meet the cost of hosting
around two million Syrian refugees currently there, although he added this
was not about trying to buy Turkey off for blocking the route to those who
want to come to Europe.
But for one Syrian family, there was good news as Pope Francis put them up in
a Vatican apartment, aides revealed on Friday.
The Christian family is the first of two the Catholic leader has promised to
help after he called on every parish in Europe to put up at least one family.