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 Attempts by Slovenia to ration the flow of migrants since Hungary
sealed its border with Croatia at midnight on Friday have triggered
a knock-on effect through the Balkans, with thousands held up at
border crossings.
At least 12,100 migrants were currently in Serbia, the prime
minister said on Tuesday, and the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR)
reported at least 2,500 migrants stranded in no man's land between
Croatia and Serbia.
By late morning on Tuesday, 5,000 migrants had entered Slovenia,
after some 8,000 in total had crossed the border on Monday, the
Slovenian Interior Ministry said.
As the smallest country on the Balkan migration route, Slovenia had
"limited possibilities of border control and accommodating
migrants", the government said in an earlier statement.
 Slovenia, which borders Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Italy, has a
population of two million people.
"Therefore Slovenia publicly calls upon the (EU) member states and
the European institutions to actively engage in taking over this
burden," the government said.
SHIVERING IN THE COLD
At the Berkasovo border crossing between Serbia and Croatia, Jamal,
a 50-year-old Syrian from the city of Tartus, spent the night at the
border crossing with his daughter and wife.
"It was very cold, very, very cold, we are shivering, we received
some food, but (there were) no tents for everybody, so we slept
under a van, they gave us blankets," Jamal said.
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Astrid Coyne-Jensen, a program coordinator with the Danish People's
Aid humanitarian organization, said that its medical team treated
around 150 people from late Monday until Tuesday morning.
"Mainly we had flu-like infections, sore throats, fevers, unlike in
the summer when we were treating blisters and foot injuries. People
are mainly seeking immediate help to relieve symptoms as they are in
a hurry, they rarely stop for a prolonged intervention," she said.
In the morning, hundreds of people bypassed a border checkpoint and
police cordon, and walked straight into Croatia along a path between
an orchard and a vineyard.
Croatian authorities said more than 2,000 people were sheltered in
the Opatovac camp near the border. From there buses were taking them
to the nearest train station in Tovarnik or straight to the
Slovenian border.
On Monday, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said many more
migrants were on their way to Serbia from Macedonia.
(Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Raissa
Kasolowsky)
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