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| Refugee crisis: Hungary builds border fence with Croatia - live updates | Refugee crisis: Hungary builds border fence with Croatia - live updates |
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| 8.55am BST08:55 | |
| Patrick Kingsley | |
| Patrick Kingsley has the latest from Croatia’s Tovarnik railway station. | |
| More than 2,000 refugees were left stranded overnight in a border town near Croatia’s border with Serbia as Slovenia prevented hundreds of others from leaving north-west Croatia, leading to fears that the latest refugee route into the European Union may turn out to be a dead-end. | |
| Early on Friday morning, Croatia also closed seven of its eight road border crossings with Serbia after complaining of being overwhelmed by the arrival of more than 11,000 migrants and refugees. | |
| At least 2,000 people were stuck in Tovarnik, the first Croatian town after the border with Serbia. While a specially commissioned train arrived to pick many of them up at about midnight, the train was still waiting in the station at 7am, its 10 carriages packed with about 1,000 restless refugees largely from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. | |
| More than 1,000 others were left sleeping on the station platforms and in the streets of Tovarnik, a small and sleepy rural town that has no hotels. Small children slept on cold stone slabs, and a baby was placed inside a small suitcase to keep it warm. | |
| Related: More than 2,000 refugees stranded at Croatian border town | |
| 8.43am BST08:43 | 8.43am BST08:43 |
| A right wing mayor in Hungary has launched a chilling video warning refugees and migrants not to try to reach Germany via Hungary. | A right wing mayor in Hungary has launched a chilling video warning refugees and migrants not to try to reach Germany via Hungary. |
| In the video Laszlo Toroczkai, the crew cut mayor of Asotthalom on the Serbian border, is shown in a field next to the border fence flanked by burley border guards dressed in shades and camouflage trousers. | In the video Laszlo Toroczkai, the crew cut mayor of Asotthalom on the Serbian border, is shown in a field next to the border fence flanked by burley border guards dressed in shades and camouflage trousers. |
| “The borders of Hungary are protected by a fence that is continuously being built,” he warns. | “The borders of Hungary are protected by a fence that is continuously being built,” he warns. |
| The video goes on to depict border guards in helicopters, 4x4 vehicles, on motorbikes and on horse back. The action shots are accompanied by the sound macho music. | The video goes on to depict border guards in helicopters, 4x4 vehicles, on motorbikes and on horse back. The action shots are accompanied by the sound macho music. |
| Over the image of a map showing migration routes, Toroczkai says: “If you are an illegal immigrant and you want to get to Germany then the shortest journey from Serbia is through Croatia and Slovenia. Do not trust lying human traffickers. Hungary is a bad choice. Asotthalom is the worst.” | Over the image of a map showing migration routes, Toroczkai says: “If you are an illegal immigrant and you want to get to Germany then the shortest journey from Serbia is through Croatia and Slovenia. Do not trust lying human traffickers. Hungary is a bad choice. Asotthalom is the worst.” |
| 8.16am BST08:16 | 8.16am BST08:16 |
| Calls for action against Hungary | Calls for action against Hungary |
| There are growing calls for the EU to sanction Hungary over its treatment of refugees. | There are growing calls for the EU to sanction Hungary over its treatment of refugees. |
| Countries that do not share European values cannot count on receiving money from the bloc, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned in an interview with the newspaper Bild. | Countries that do not share European values cannot count on receiving money from the bloc, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned in an interview with the newspaper Bild. |
| Gabriel said that while Germany was opening gymnasiums, barracks and homes to refugee families, other countries were “laying barbed wire on their borders and closing the gates”. | Gabriel said that while Germany was opening gymnasiums, barracks and homes to refugee families, other countries were “laying barbed wire on their borders and closing the gates”. |
| The comments came after Hungary was widely condemned for using teargas and water cannon to stop people crossings its border with Serbia. Undeterred Hungary’s anti-immigration prime minister Viktor Orban announced the start of construction of 41km fence with Croatia. | The comments came after Hungary was widely condemned for using teargas and water cannon to stop people crossings its border with Serbia. Undeterred Hungary’s anti-immigration prime minister Viktor Orban announced the start of construction of 41km fence with Croatia. |
| The Washington Post urged Europe to consider suspending Hungary from the EU. In an editorial it said: | The Washington Post urged Europe to consider suspending Hungary from the EU. In an editorial it said: |
| Tougher steps may be needed to stop Mr. Orban from imposing his agenda of intolerance. Austrian and German officials have suggested that generous EU subsidies to Hungary should be reconsidered; the union also has the option of suspending Budapest’s voting rights. One way or another, the European Union must make clear its rejection of Mr. Orban’s repellent policies. | Tougher steps may be needed to stop Mr. Orban from imposing his agenda of intolerance. Austrian and German officials have suggested that generous EU subsidies to Hungary should be reconsidered; the union also has the option of suspending Budapest’s voting rights. One way or another, the European Union must make clear its rejection of Mr. Orban’s repellent policies. |
| 7.56am BST07:56 | 7.56am BST07:56 |
| Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the increasingly dire refugee crisis as more borders are shut across central Europe. Refugees and migrants continue to arrive at Europe’s door only to be being greeted with more closed border crossings, new fences and extra riot police. | Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the increasingly dire refugee crisis as more borders are shut across central Europe. Refugees and migrants continue to arrive at Europe’s door only to be being greeted with more closed border crossings, new fences and extra riot police. |
| Here’s a roundup of the latest developments: | Here’s a roundup of the latest developments: |
| On Wednesday, the bottleneck was at Horgoš on Serbia’s border with Hungary, where Hungarian police fired teargas at crowds of refugees who tried to rush a border gate when they suddenly found their northward procession blocked. But by Thursday, after Serbian officials bussed thousands of people from its Hungarian border to its Croatian one, the flashpoint had moved 120 miles south west. | On Wednesday, the bottleneck was at Horgoš on Serbia’s border with Hungary, where Hungarian police fired teargas at crowds of refugees who tried to rush a border gate when they suddenly found their northward procession blocked. But by Thursday, after Serbian officials bussed thousands of people from its Hungarian border to its Croatian one, the flashpoint had moved 120 miles south west. |
| At first things seemed to go smoothly. People were dropped off easily enough in Šid. Then they walked through the cauldron of the late Balkans summer, and through a series of pancake-flat corn fields to find waiting trains and coaches, amid an initially warm series of media statements from Croatia’s prime minister. | At first things seemed to go smoothly. People were dropped off easily enough in Šid. Then they walked through the cauldron of the late Balkans summer, and through a series of pancake-flat corn fields to find waiting trains and coaches, amid an initially warm series of media statements from Croatia’s prime minister. |
| But in Tovarnik, as the news spread that Croatia was open and more than 5,000 people piled over the border, matters quickly unravelled. The government had not prepared enough transport for such a huge volume of people, nor enough water, and there were too few officials to provide information and direction to newcomers who had little idea of where they were. | But in Tovarnik, as the news spread that Croatia was open and more than 5,000 people piled over the border, matters quickly unravelled. The government had not prepared enough transport for such a huge volume of people, nor enough water, and there were too few officials to provide information and direction to newcomers who had little idea of where they were. |