ZAGREB, June 19, 2018 – Despite a daylong effort to enter Croatia through the Maljevac border crossing from Velika Kladuša in Bosnia and Herzegovina on foot without valid documents, some 200 migrants remained on the Bosnian side of the border where they staged a peaceful protest. The border was closed until 2010 hrs on Monday when migrants started heading back to Velika Kladuša.
Bosnian police prevented the migrants who were trying to walk through the woodland to reach the border with EU member Croatia, Hina learnt from sources on the ground.
Croatia also sent police on its side of the border.
The crossing was later re-opened and police were negotiating with the migrants to move away from the frontier, the statement from the border police said.
Karlovac (Croatia) Police Chief Josip Ćelić said on Monday that the situation at the Velika Kladuša-Maljevac border crossing was entirely under control on both sides of the border.
Migrants have recently turned to Bosnia in order to avoid more heavily guarded routes through the Balkans. Migrants arrive in Bosnia from Serbia or Montenegro after travelling from Greece to Albania, Bulgaria or Macedonia.
Hundreds of thousands of people passed through the Balkans toward Europe at the peak of the mass migration in 2015. The flow eased for a while but has recently picked up a bit with the new route through Bosnia.
