Migrants inundate Croatia

Amid chaotic scenes at its border with Serbia, Croatia said yesterday it could not cope with a flood of migrants seeking a new route into the EU after Hungary kept them out by erecting a fence and using tear gas and water cannon against them.

The European Union called an emergency summit next week to try to overcome disarray over the refugee crisis, as its newest member state said it may have to use the army to stop illegal migrants criss-crossing the Western Balkans in their quest for sanctuary in the wealthy 28-nation bloc.

The EU is split over how to handle the influx of hundreds of thousands of people mostly fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

More than 7,300 people entered Croatia from Serbia in the 24 hours after Wednesday's clashes between Hungarian riot police and stone-throwing refugees at its Balkan neighbour's frontier.

Hungary's closure of its southern EU border with Serbia has shifted pressure onto Croatia, Slovenia and Romania.

At the eastern border town of Tovarnik, Croatian riot police struggled to keep crowds of men, women and children back from rail tracks after long queues formed in baking heat for buses bound for reception centres elsewhere in Croatia.

Scuffles broke out as police tried to get women and children to board the buses bound for reception centres near Zagreb. Women screamed and children cried in desperate scenes.

An Iraqi from Baghdad who gave his name as Riad said he had been separated from his wife and child. "Only women and children are now allowed onto buses. My wife and child are gone and they [police] do not allow me to join them. My phone does not work."

Croatia's president met the army chief of staff and asked the military to be ready, if necessary, to protect national borders from illegal migration, state news agency Hina reported.

A migrant in a wheelchair moves towards the Croatian village of Tovarnik, close to the official Serbia-Croatia border yesterday. Migrants began to cross from Serbia into Croatia on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

DEEP DIVISIONS

European Council President Donald Tusk summoned EU leaders to a summit next Wednesday to discuss how to better manage external EU borders and help Turkey, through which many of the migrants are passing, as well as other states in the region that are housing Syrian refugees.

He had been urged to do so by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of the EU's most powerful member state and the desired destination for many of the refugees.

The bloc's interior ministers failed to agree on Monday on a mandatory quota system designed to spread the burden of this year's huge influx.

MORE MIGRANTS COMING

Undeterred by the problems faces by migrants at the gates of Europe, more have been arriving at the Greek port of Piraeus from Lesbos island, a short boat ride from Turkey.

Others are waiting outside Europe to attempt the hazardous journey that has cost thousands of refugees their lives.

"It would be very dangerous, but if you make it, the reward is great, the whole world will open up for you," Yousef Hariri, a refugee from Deraa in Syria, said at a refugee camp in Jordan.

Police said the number of refugees arriving in Germany more than doubled on Wednesday to 7,266. The head of the German Office for Migration and Refugees quit for personal reasons after being criticised for slow processing of applications from a record number of asylum seekers.

In Istanbul, hundreds of Syrians and other migrants thronged a small park in the city centre hoping for a last chance to reach Europe before poor weather makes their favoured Aegean Sea route to Greek islands too dangerous to undertake.

Greece said large groups of refugees from Syria may be about to try to cross its far northeastern land border with Turkey, a relatively new entry point. Much of the frontier is fenced.

A record 300,000 people have fled to Europe via Greece this year, according to the International Organisation of Migration. More than 116,000 more have arrived in Italy.

The UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, denounced "callous, xenophobic and anti-Muslim views that appear to lie at the heart of current Hungarian government policy".

"Europe was created to knock down walls, not to build them," Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said.

CRITICISM OF 'XENOPHOBIC' HUNGARY

Hungary came under mounting criticism yesterday over its treatment of migrants and refugees, with the UN's rights chief saying its policies appeared to be shaped by anti-Muslim sentiment and "xenophobia".

A statement from Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's office said he "deplored the xenophobic and anti-Muslim views that appear to lie at the heart of current Hungarian government policy".

Regional neighbours joined the UN in blasting Hungary's use of water cannon and tear gas against migrants as "unacceptable" and "unbecoming".

Clashes erupted at the flashpoint Roszke crossing on the Hungary-Serbia border on Wednesday, with police trying to block dozens of migrants massed on the Serbian side of the border from breaching a razor-wire fence.

Hours after the clashes, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was personally "shocked" to see how the refugees and migrants were being treated.

"It's not acceptable," he said.