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 At first light on Thursday, groups of refugees bypassed the
official border crossing and walked through orchards into Croatia.
"Babies crying, women crying, we were burning big fires, but it was
very cold, no one gave us food, only some bread," said a man named
Sayed, who had made it to the border from the Syrian capital of
Damascus.
The crossing is one of the new focal points of Europe's biggest
refugee and migrant crisis since World War II, which has seen
hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the
Middle East and Africa this year to try to reach Europe's rich
countries.
Hungary sealed its border with Croatia last week, blocking entry
with a metal fence and razor wire. Croatia began directing migrants
west to Slovenia, which has tried to stem the flow as migrants
sought new routes and human bottlenecks built up through the
Balkans.
Most want to continue their journey on to Austria and Germany, the
preferred destination for most. Both Slovenia and Hungary are part
of Europe's passport-free Schengen Area while Croatia is not.
With many now trapped in deteriorating conditions in the Balkans,
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called an
extraordinary meeting of several European leaders to take place on
Sunday.
The commission said in a statement on Wednesday that Juncker had
invited the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania,
Serbia and Slovenia.
"In view of the unfolding emergency in the countries along the
Western Balkans migratory route, there is a need for much greater
cooperation, more extensive consultation and immediate operational
action," the commission said.
More than 20,000 migrants have arrived in Slovenia since Saturday
morning in order to pass through to Austria.
The Slovenian parliament passed legislation on Wednesday that will
give the army more power to help police guarding the state border.
Prime Minister Miro Cerar told reporters before the vote in
parliament that Slovenia would ask the European Union for police
reinforcements and for financial help
The heads of the police and border forces of Austria, Slovenia,
Croatia and Hungary were due meet in Vienna on Wednesday.
HUNGRY AND COLD
Aid agencies are concerned about backlogs of migrants building in
the Balkans, battered by autumn winds and rain as temperatures drop
before winter.
Croatian authorities said about 4,200 people were sheltered in the
Opatovac camp, from where buses would take them directly to the
Slovenian border straight or to the nearest train station in
Tovarnik, from where they could go to Slovenia border. The camp
capacity is 4,000 people.
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Refugees who spent the night at the Berkasovo-Bapska border crossing
in tents or under tarpaulins provided by aid groups burned bonfires
to warm themselves up.
"The keyword is - cold. It's been freezing, this was our busiest
night this week," said Astrid Coyne-Jensen of the Danish People's
Aid medical team.
Mustafa, a man in his 30s, wrapped in a gray blanket said that his
group of three families spent the night at the border crossing under
a piece of discarded tarpaulin as there were not enough tents for
everyone.
"I am from Hama in Syria, I have family in Turkey, I will tell them
not to come as this is not for people, this is for animals,"
Mustafa said as he was trying to break a piece of wood to put it in
a fire.
Slovenian opposition parties said the government should follow
Hungary and put up a fence on its border with Croatia to prevent
migrants entering the country. An Interior Ministry official said
the possibility erecting obstacles could not be excluded if the flow
of migrants escalated.
Almost 6,000 migrants arrived on the Greek mainland on Wednesday on
three ferry boats sailing from the islands of Lesbos and Chios, the
first pount of landfall for many of the refugees from Syria. They
disembarked at Pireaus port where they were bussed out to a central
train station.
Two boatloads of migrants came ashore at a British military base on
Cyprus on Wednesday, authorities said, the first time since the
crisis began that refugees have landed directly on what is
considered British sovereign soil.
Vessels carrying the migrants were spotted in the early morning
hours off RAF Akrotiri. They held about 140 people, including women
and children.
(Additional reporting by Igor Ilic in Zagreb and Michele Kambas in
Athens, Writing by Ivana Sekularac,)
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