ZAGREB, September 2, 2019 – Croatia’s Interior Ministry on Monday said that it was not acquainted with a case of alleged violence against migrants that Serbia’s office for refugees and migrants reported about last week.
The Serbian office claimed last Saturday that Croatian border police staff had brutally beaten an Afghan minor.
“We consider this one more unfounded and uncorroborated accusation against the Croatian police forces because of their persistence and resoluteness in the protection of the state border which is also the European Union’s external border,” the ministry said in a press release.
Croatia’s police have prevented 9,487 attempts of illegal crossings of its border since the beginning of this year, which is a 200% increase compared to the corresponding period in 2018.
Croatian law enforcement authorities have to date arrested nearly 600 migrant smugglers and 17% of the apprehended smugglers were Serbian nationals, the ministry added.
It recalled several cases when Croatian police officers helped migrants in dire situations and rescued them from peril.
More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.
