The latest on the migrant crisis in Croatia.
From midnight to 9 pm on Monday, 6,478 migrants and refugees entered Croatia. During the night, there were 3,347 people housed in the temporary reception centre in Opatovac. From the beginning of the migration crisis, 165,030 migrants and refugees have entered Croatia, reports Index.hr and Vecernji List on October 13, 2015.
The influx of refugees passing from the Balkans through Central Europe to primarily Germany has increased during the weekend as the winter approaches. More than 8,500 people arrived to Austria on Sunday, and additional 3,680 between midnight and Monday morning at 7 am, reported the Austrian police. About 250,000 migrants have entered Austria since the end of August, with the vast majority continuing to Germany. In Hungary, 7,907 migrants were registered on Saturday and 7,879 on Sunday, which is also an increase compared to previous days.
In Slavonski Brod in Croatia, a winter transit centre for migrants is being prepared, which will enable them to pass through Croatia more quickly and more comfortably during the winter months, confirmed Croatian Interior Ministry on Monday. The centre will be located at a former warehouse which has all the necessary facilities, buildings and the rail-tracks. This will provide a better way to transport refugees, which will not be left in rain and cold. Interior Ministry reported that the Opatovac reception centre will operate until the transit centre in Slavonski Brod is ready.
Croatian interior minister Ranko Ostojić explained why the reception center for refugees will be moved from Opatovac to Slavonski Brod. “Winter is coming and in order to provide more humane conditions for these people, it is necessary to take measures so they do not freeze while waiting a few hours for transportation. The situation is very simple. It is much better to make quality accommodation at a different location. The biggest advantage we have at the moment is the rail-track which already exists in the new camp. This means that the local community and others in Croatia should not worry. Everything will be sorted out directly from the border”, Ostojić explained. He added that both centers will operate in parallel as long as necessary.
“We need to work this out with the Greek government. If the problem is that Croatia is transporting people from the Schengen Area to the Schengen Area, then Hungary and Greece should solve it. Hungary at the moment is not registering refugees who are being transported directly to Austria. Croatia will not become a hot spot or a centre for refugees who are now coming from Greece, which means they are coming from the Schengen Area”, Ostojić said.
Among the refugees who on Monday entered Croatia through Bapska border crossing was Jakub Sulejmani, who came to the Opatovac reception centre together with seven members of his family. He is fleeing from Iraq because he no longer sees a future for himself and his family there and hopes to find a new home in Germany. The biggest problem during the long journey was the cold weather.
Refugees are crossing from Turkey into Greece in ships and small boats, paying about 2,000 euros per person. The boats can fit ten to fifteen people, but they cram twice as many. They are almost always caught by Greek patrols, but the refugees than deliberately sink the boats themselves so that the patrols have to save them and cannot return them to Turkey. When they arrive to Miletovac in Serbia, they take a taxi to Preševo and the local refugee centre, where they wait for several hours in order to get a certificate which allows them to stay in Serbia for 72 hours.
