Croatia says it cannot take any more refugees as thousands cross border

Croatia has said it cannot take in any more asylum seekers and migrants, amid chaotic scenes of riot police trying to control thousands who have streamed into the country from Serbia. 

Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said Croatia would provide migrants with safe passage to reception centres around the capital, Zagreb, but that those not seeking asylum would be considered illegal immigrants.

He said 6,500 people had entered in the past 24 hours after Hungary sealed its borders.

"Croatia will not be able to receive more people," Mr Ostojic told reporters in the town of Tovarnik on Croatia's eastern border with Serbia.

"When we said corridors are prepared, we meant a corridor from Tovarnik to Zagreb," he added, suggesting Croatia would not be allowing migrants simply to proceed northwards to Slovenia.

A special train transporting around 800 people from Tovarnik, near the Serbian border, arrived in Dugo Selo, near Zagreb, in the early hours of this morning before being transferred to a reception centre in nearby Jezevo.

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said last night that the country was prepared for the arrival of migrants but 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," Ms Pusic told HRT.

"We do not have capacities" for such an influx, she added.

Health Minister Sinisa Varga said Croatia was expecting more than 20,000 people over the next two weeks after more than 6.200 arrived from Serbia within the past 24 hours.

• EU parliament backs refugee relocation plans

The number of people crossing into Germany has risen sharply, days after the introduction of border controls, with police counting 9,100 "irregular entries" yesterday, up from about 6,000 the previous day.

Federal police said that "almost all came from Austria", with about 2,000 arriving on trains and the rest by road or on foot, three days after Germany introduced passport checks on borders Sunday.

Germany has also extended its controls to the border with the Czech Republic to stop human traffickers and better cope with the increased influx of asylum seekers, a federal police spokesman said..............http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0917/728364-refugee-crisis/
17/9/15
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Related:

• Migrants break through Croatian police lines at Tovarnik...

• Plus de 5 000 migrants sont entrés en Croatie depuis la fermeture de la frontière serbo-hongroise mardi. Le gouvernement croate, qui se veut compréhensif, a rappelé les limites de son pays en matière d’accueil et d’enregistrement de ces personnes... 

• Croatia prepares emergency plan for possible refugee wave. Serbian media said buses were now being redirected to Croatia

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