The latest on the migrant crisis in Croatia.
Refugees are continuing to arrive to the Opatovac reception centre in eastern Croatia. Since the beginning of the crisis until 9 am today, a total of 103,070 migrants have entered Croatia. From midnight to 9 am, Croatia received 2,450 new migrants across the Tovarska and Bapska border crossings with Serbia. During the night, some of them have already been transported to the Hungarian border. Yesterday, Croatia received 5,546 migrants, according to the Croatian Interior Ministry, reports Vecernji List on October 3, 2015.
This morning, 2,139 migrants have been located at the reception centre in Opatovac. It is expected that more immigrants will come from Serbia during the day. Croatia is still transporting refugees to Hungary. The key question at this moment is whether Hungary will fulfil its threats and try to completely seal the border with Croatia.
Head of the Office of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said that the final decision depends on Austria. “We will be able to defend our border with Croatia. It is true that we are ready to fully raise the fence at the border. However, the final decision will be made by Austria. We have not yet received a definitive response from Vienna. Hungary is ready to create a ‘humanitarian corridor’ for the refugees”, said yesterday Janos Lazar.
Hungary is still detaining the Croatian train which carried about 1,000 refugees to Hungary on September 18. The Hungarian police has seized it on the grounds that it has illegally entered the territory of Hungary. The train has since been standing at the border, with four Croatian train operators coming there daily to monitor the train. Croatian interior minister Ranko Ostojić said that negotiations are still ongoing about release of the train. When the negotiations will be completed no one knows, least the operators who are not allowed to leave the train.
According to unofficial information, about twenty vehicles with more than 160 emergency police officers have arrived to the police base in Plat to guard southern Croatian border in the event that refugees decide to enter Croatia in that area. The Interior Ministry has still not confirmed this information.
There are rumors that in Albania there are about 2,000 refugees which want to cross the border with Montenegro. This has been supported by a statement from a Montenegrin minister who said that Montenegro is ready to receive the refugees. “A thousand tents, about twenty transport vehicles and 600 people are ready for the reception, registration and transport of refugees to the Croatian border, so they can continue their journey further to Western Europe. It is essential that we know who enters the country, but also that refugees are welcomed in a humane way. The first camp should be located in Krenza, near the Božaj border crossing. We are getting ready to accept up to two thousand people”, said yesterday the Montenegrin minister of labour and social welfare Zorica Kovačević.
