First Migrants Enter Croatia after Hungary Seals Border

Local Editor

Several dozen migrants entered Croatia from Serbia early Wednesday, the first to enter the EU country after Hungary sealed its borders to thousands of people entering the bloc daily.

The group of mostly Syrian and Afghan men, women and children crossed the border - which was marked by nothing more than a stone - early Wednesday morning and were picked up by police as they walked across a field.

From there they were taken to a police station in the nearby town of Tovarnik to be registered, police said, and tended to by medical staff.

Furthermore, police said initially that a group of around 20 people entered the country. They said that other groups of similar size were on their way.

Until this week, the vast majority of refugees traveled up from Greece through Macedonia and Serbia into Hungary. From there most traveled onwards to Western Europe, particularly Germany and Sweden, via Austria.

But Hungary, which has seen more than 200,000 migrants enter this year, effectively sealed its southern border with Serbia on Tuesday by closing a gap in its newly-built border fence at an old railway line where many had entered by blocking it with a train wagon and barbed wire.

Hungary directed the migrants to official border crossing points, but after some people were allowed through, these too were blocked.

Any migrants entering Hungary illegally were liable to be jailed under new laws rushed through parliament by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government last week that came into effect on Tuesday.

The result was plain to see in statistics released by Hungarian police on Wednesday, with the number of people intercepted falling to just 367 from a record 9,380 the day before.

From Croatia, which is in the Europe Union but unlike Hungary not in the passport-free Schengen Zone, the migrants could then enter Schengen member Slovenia, or Hungary via its southwestern border.

Overnight there was a crisis meeting in Tovarnik on how to handle the influx, with food and tents organized for the migrants and Red Cross officials and volunteers also on the spot.

Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said late Tuesday that Croatia had developed a plan for dealing with the situation but declined to reveal details.

The migrants would be treated according to international conventions, he said, meaning that they would be registered first to see if they are entitled to help.

Croatia had some 6,000 border police deployed, whose numbers could be boosted, he added.

The country had said it was prepared to take in some 3,000 migrants in different type of facilities. Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said earlier this month that building fences and walls to protect borders was unacceptable.

The country has two centers for asylum seekers - one in the capital Zagreb and one 90 kilometers [55 miles] away in Kutina that can house some 700 people.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team