Hungarian police repel migrants at closed border
Others reach Croatia, seeking alternate route to refuge
Hungarian border police sprayed tear gas Wednesday at migrants on its closed border with Serbia, triggering a stampede. Another group of migrants reached Croatia to take a longer route into Western Europe.
Migrants frustrated at being blocked on the Serbian side of the border threw plastic water bottles and rocks at helmeted riot police and chanted demands that the border be reopened. Police responded with tear gas and water cannons, the Associated Press reported.
“We fled wars and violence and did not expect such brutality and inhumane treatment in Europe,” said Amir Hassan, an Iraqi who was wet from a water cannon and tried to wash tear gas from his eyes, according to AP. “Shame on you, Hungarians,” he shouted.
The clashes took place at a small border crossing in the Serbian village of Horgos, a short distance from the main border crossing into Hungary.
The group of migrants who reached Croatia on Wednesday set out on a new route to Germany and other European countries after Hungary closed its border with Serbia on Tuesday and de- clared a state of emergency in two southern counties to prevent migrants from illegally entering the country.
Nearly 900 people have entered Croatia, more than 12 hours after the first groups started coming in. Ranko Ostojic, Croatia’s deputy prime minister, said his country expects about 4,000 migrants to arrive in the coming days en route to richer European Union countries.
Zoran Milanovic, the prime minister of Croatia, an EU member, criticized Hungary’s decision to seal the border.
“We are ready to accept and direct those people,” he told parliament Wednesday. “They will be able to pass through Croatia, and we are working intensively to enable that.”
It is illegal to cross or damage Hungary’s 13-foot-high, razorwire fence on its border with Serbia, and Hungarian police sealed a key crossing on a railway track. Refugees and migrants blocked the main highway connecting Serbia and Hungary in protest after the border was shut. Small groups of migrants continued to sneak into Hungary by crawling under or climbing over the fence, the AP reported.
In Washington, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic condemned Hungary’s actions of firing tear gas and water cannons at migrants. “I hope that doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Vucic pointed out that unlike Hungary, Serbia has housed, fed and registered migrants and is building additional facilities for the winter.
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter called on Germany Tuesday to take the lead in solving the crisis, comparing it to Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees arriving in the USA in the late 1970s, during his presidency.
The same day, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Russia Today (RT) that Europe isn’t dealing with the cause of the refugee crisis. Thousands of Syrian refugees are heading to Europe, and more than 4 million have been in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt since the outbreak of war in 2011. Russia provides military assistance to the Syrian government. “It’s not about that Europe didn’t accept them or embrace them as refugees, it’s about not dealing with the cause,” Assad told RT, which is funded by the Russian government. “If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists. That’s what we think, regarding the crisis.”