TOVARNIK, Croatia (AP) — The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET):
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7 p.m.
Migrants are taking a detour — trying to cross into Hungary from Croatia after Hungary built a fence along its Serbian border and sent thousands of police there.
So far the move has not proved too successful. Hungarian state media said Thursday that police had detained dozens of migrants near the village of Illocska, opposite the Croatian town of Beli Manastir.
Croatian officials say over 8,900 migrants have reached Croatia in the last two days after Hungary shut down its border.
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6:30 p.m.
Croatian media say President Kolinda Grabar Kitarevic has asked the country’s military to be on higher alert and ready to act if needed to protect the border from illegal migrants.
The official Hina news agency says Grabar Kitarovic has met with the Chief of Staff of the Croatian army, Drago Lovric, and asked that the military monitor the situation.
More than 8,900 asylum seekers have crossed into Croatia in just two days, after Hungary sealed off its territory. Many have entered Croatia through cornfields to avoid having to register with authorities. Some official crossings were overwhelmed and chaotic Thursday.
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6:15 p.m.
Swedish officials say the flow of asylum seekers to the country has reached unprecedented levels, with more than 1,000 new arrivals daily.
The Swedish Migration Agency says in the seven days ending Tuesday, 5,214 people applied for asylum, beating a record set in June 1992 during the Balkan wars.
Most are from Syria, but the numbers from Afghanistan and Iraq are also growing. There has also been a surge in unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, with 923 such cases registered in the seven-day period.
Sweden received more than 80,000 asylum seekers last year, the highest per capita in the European Union. The recent surge suggests the numbers could be higher this year.
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6:10 p.m.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says European governments must listen to their people on the migrant crisis, who are “not as hard-hearted and harsh as the governments.”
In a prerecorded talk show to be aired Friday by Swedish broadcaster SVT, Annan said “we are going to see more of this: where leaders fail to lead and people will lead and make them follow.”
The U.N. chief from 1997 to 2006 told the “Skavlan” talk show that “all of Europe must come together and deal with this crisis.”
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6 p.m.
Jordan’s Queen Rania has called for a decisive response from the global community to the migration crisis, and warned that a failure to act could spur extremism.
Rania, whose country hosts some 1.4 million Syrians, on Thursday praised “the generosity of spirit we’ve seen as Germans donate goods to help Syrians who arrive with nothing but the clothes on their back.”
At a ceremony in Berlin where German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented her with a prize for promoting peace and tolerance, Rania said the crisis “demands exceptional solutions.”
She warned that “denying refugees their basic rights risks creating a defeated and disillusioned generation who, at their most desperate, could be susceptible to extremist ideology.”
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5:50 p.m.
Germany’s foreign minister says he will use an upcoming trip to Turkey to press for better cooperation to tackle the migrant crisis and bring an end to the conflict in Syria.
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is traveling to Ankara on Friday for talks with Turkish government officials.
In a statement Thursday, Steinmeier said while Germany and Europe already cooperate closely with Turkey, a broader partnership is necessary. Steinmeier said he will see where Germany can provide Turkey with further assistance, since Turkey is already hosting almost 2 million refugees from Syria.
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5:35 p.m.
Serbia’s government says that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will visit the country on Friday — an apparent bid to ease tensions that erupted after Hungarian police used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons against migrants seeking entry from Serbia.
Serbia’s foreign ministry said Thursday that Szijjarto will meet with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic. The officials will hold a joint news conference.
Hungary has sealed its border with Serbia in a bid to stop the influx of migrants.
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5:15 p.m.
Slovenia’s Red Cross expects 5,000 refugees to enter the country in the coming days and has appealed for more aid as thousands have been pouring into neighboring Croatia.
More than 7,300 people have entered Croatia in the last two days. Most have sought to move on toward Western Europe, with Slovenia being the next stop on their route.
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4:50 p.m.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka now says his country is willing to accept thousands of refugees.
The Czech Republic is one of several European Union nations that reject mandatory quotas for distributing refugees — but the government says it’s ready to help share the burden a voluntary basis.
The country has so far agreed to accept 1,500 people but Sobotka said Thursday “we are ready to help several thousands.” His human rights minister has suggested the country could take up to 15,000 refugees.
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4:30 p.m.
Croatian police say 7,300 migrants have entered the country in the last two days after Hungary sealed its
After thousands waited for hours in the hot sun, dozens were trampled in a scrum to get on some trains and buses Thursday at the Croatian town of Torvarnik. Authorities have appeared overwhelmed by the flow, and some guards stood behind trees to avoid the crush.
The migrants are taken to refugee centers where they are registered and can apply for asylum. Most don’t want to stay in Croatia but are eager to move on toward Western Europe.
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4:20 p.m.
The secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest body of Muslim countries, “expressed shock and dismay at the harsh and unacceptable treatment by the Hungarian police” in dispersing protesting migrants who sought to enter the country from Serbia.
Iyad Madani, who heads the 57-nation OIC from its headquarters in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, called on Hungary’s government “to respect international humanitarian law and human rights of the refugees.”
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3:55 p.m.
Hundreds of migrants have pushed through police lines in the eastern Croatian town of Tovarnik, with people trampling and falling on each other amid the chaos.
An Associated Press photographer saw one man collapsing on the ground and dozens injured in the melee.
More than 2,000 men, women and children were stuck at the local train station for hours in blazing heat and sun, waiting to board trains and buses to refugee centers. When buses arrived, groups charged toward them, overwhelming the Croatian police.
After the situation calmed, groups of migrants moved off on foot, with police unable to stop them.
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3:50 p.m.
Norway’s foreign minister says the country will donate a total of 60 million kroner ($7.3 million) to Serbia and Macedonia to cope with the large influx of people pouring into the region.
Minister Borge Brende says “I commend Serbia for the great efforts and generosity” that the government, organizations and the civil society have shown.
Brende said 30 million kroner will be given to Serbia to upgrade “the reception apparatus” ahead of winter, and 30 million will be used as emergency aid to both Serbia and Macedonia.
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3:45 p.m.
The U.N.’s top human rights official says Hungary is violating international law with its response to the migration crisis.
Zeid Raad al-Hussein said that he was appalled by the actions of the Hungarian authorities, saying that “images of women and young children being assaulted with tear gas and water cannons at Hungary’s border with Serbia were truly shocking.”
Zeid called Hungary’s actions “callous, and in some cases illegal,” citing the country’s denial of entry and return of migrants and refugees.
He also cited the reported assaults of journalists and the seizing of journalists’ video footage. Zeid said that “xenophobic and anti-Muslim views appear to lie at the heart of current Hungarian Government policy.”
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3:35 p.m.
Some 200 asylum seekers, most of them Syrians, are holding a spontaneous demonstration in Turkey’s northwestern province of Edirne, demanding that authorities allow them to cross the border into Europe.
Clapping and chanting “Merkel!” the group said they will refuse to eat and will keep staging a sit-in protest until Turkey lets them pass. Amir Raei, a 25-year-old Syrian from Idlib, said they won’t give up and they will try to reach the Turkish-Greek border shortly.
Hundreds of others are also waiting in Edirne’s bus terminal and in the city, which borders European Union members Greece and Bulgaria.
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3:35 p.m.
A Hungarian official says the country’s plan to impose strict controls at its borders to stop the flow of migrants has been successful because human traffickers are using other routes to reach Western Europe.
Janos Lazar, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, said the “assertive, uncompromising defense of the border has visibly held back human trafficking and forces them to change direction. That was the aim of the entire action.”
Hungary began applying tougher migration and asylum rules Tuesday. Thousands of police and soldiers are now guarding the 4-meter (13-foot) high fence on the southern border with Serbia.
Instead, many migrants are now going to neighboring Croatia, to then try to reach Germany and other, richer EU countries.
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3:30 p.m.
Hundreds of migrants are entering Croatia from Serbia over a Danube River bridge in the northern town of Batina after being bused in by Serb authorities.
Croatian police seemed to be unprepared for the sudden influx of exhausted families with little children as they waited to be registered. There were some chaotic scenes at the border with women fainting and children crying as buses and vans took them to Croatian refugee centers.
Some families were separated as dozens of policemen tried to establish order.
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3:25 p.m.
European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels next Wednesday to try to overcome differences about how to manage Europe’s biggest refugee emergency in decades.
European Council President Donald Tusk made the announcement on Twitter.
EU interior ministers will meet in Brussels on the eve of the summit to try to finalize a plan to share 120,000 refugees amid strong opposition from some Eastern European states.
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2:45 p.m.
Romania’s president says his country may take in more asylum seekers than it initially offered, under pressure from the European Union.
President Klaus Iohannis said the topic was discussed Thursday at a meeting of the country’s top defense council.
“This is a scenario that we don’t want, it’s a scenario which I don’t think helps solve the problem of refugees, but it is a scenario which is theoretically possible,” he said.
Romania has agreed to take in 1,785 asylum seekers but has said it’s unable to absorb the 6,351 the EU wants it to take.
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2:35 p.m.
More than 800 Syrians and others have been cleared out of makeshift camps in Paris and bused to special centers as France steps up its efforts to deal with Europe’s migrant surge.
Charity groups woke the migrants before dawn at two camps, one along the Seine River near the Gare d’Austerlitz train station in southeast Paris, the other in northern Paris near the Montmartre neighborhood.
The migrants, mostly young men but also a few families with children, gathered their belongings and boarded buses to special migrant housing centers in Paris and the surrounding region. Many had been living in the streets of the French capital for months.
France has been criticized for its relatively slow response to the migrant crisis.
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2:10 p.m.
Romania has protested a decision by Hungary to build a 70-kilometer (43 1/2-mile) fence along their shared border to deter migrants.
A government statement said the fence plan “did not conform to European Union norms” after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto gave details of its length. Hungary has already built a razor-wire fence with Serbia and has suggested it may do the same with neighboring Croatia.
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2 p.m.
Austria and Slovenia have called for an urgent all-EU response to the migrant crisis as the two countries braced for a wave of thousands of refugees from Croatia.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann says after talks with Slovenia’s Prime Minister Miro Cerar that “we are being put to test.” The comments were carried by Slovenia’s official STA news agency.
Faymann says “this time we must prove we don’t want a Europe in which everyone will try to shift their problems to others’ shoulders.”
Cerar insisted that Slovenia will protect the EU visa-free zone, but did not specify what measures his country would take.
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1:45 p.m.
A German hospital has seen a spate of Syrian refugees poisoned after eating mushrooms that apparently resemble edible fungi in their homeland.
The Hannover Medical School said it has seen around 35 cases in recent days of people — mostly refugees from Syria — who had eaten the death cap mushroom. Those with the most severe symptoms were taken to a specialized clinic.
It says the mushroom is one of the most poisonous in Germany. It can cause vomiting and diarrhea and, in the most serious cases, life-threatening liver damage.
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1:20 p.m.
Germany’s vice chancellor is making a new appeal to other European countries to help shoulder the burden of the influx of migrants.
Germany has made little progress so far in persuading many countries in the European Union to agree to a mandatory redistribution of refugees. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in a video message that Europe needs to move: “Germany is helping. The question is, who is helping Germany?”
Gabriel said the impression has arisen that “Europe is something people join in with when there’s money and where they hide in the bushes when they have to take responsibility.” He added that “money cannot keep on flowing in Europe as it has so far if Germany, Austria and Sweden organize and finance taking in refugees alone.”
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12:40 p.m.
More than 2,000 migrants have gathered at the train station in the eastern Croatian town of Tovarnik waiting to move after crossing in from Serbia hours ago.
Standing in the blazing sun and heat, they are waiting to board trains to the refugee centers in the capital Zagreb and elsewhere in Croatia.
Associated Press reporters at the scene say the migrants have become restless, demanding to move on. Croatian authorities have been distributing food and water.
More than 6,000 people have entered Croatia in just one day, straining its systems. Migrants have turned to Croatia after Hungary used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas to keep them away from its territory.
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12:30 p.m.
Hungarian officials say the alleged leader of a riot by migrants at a closed border crossing with Serbia has been detained and is suspected of “terrorism.”
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the unidentified Syrian man was “one of the organizers who specifically directed the attacks” Wednesday afternoon when hundreds of migrants on the Serbian side tried to break through the border and threw rocks at Hungarian police.
The migrants were repelled with tear gas, water cannons and batons by police, and 22 of them were detained.
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12:15 p.m.
The chief editor of one of Sweden’s largest newspapers says one of its photographers was knocked to the ground by police using clubs and tear gas in Hungary while covering the huge number of people moving across Europe.
Thomas Mattsson, of tabloid Expressen, told Hungary’s ambassador to Sweden, Lilla Makkay, that what happened to photographer Meli Petersson Ellafi a day earlier was “unacceptable.”
He said reporters covering war and disasters often are exposed to dangerous situations “but it must still be emphasized when police beat a photographer to the ground.”
Hungary used tear gas, pepper spray, batons and water cannons to keep migrants out of its territory.
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11:45 a.m.
Croatia’s government has formed a crisis body to deal with the thousands of migrants pouring into the country from Serbia after Hungary sealed its border.
More than 6,000 people have entered the country in just one day, straining the authorities who scrambled to keep control over the situation.
Migrants can be seen crossing into the country through cornfields and along roads, holding children and carrying their belongings. Local authorities in the town of Tovarnik, the main entry point, have appealed for government help, overwhelmed by the influx.
President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has called for stricter border control, saying “it was very bad that people are crossing in through corn fields.”
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11:40 a.m.
Upward of 500 migrants are waiting to cross into Germany from Austria, with police giving precedence to families with children and elderly people.
Hundreds of people were crammed on both sides of the bridge crossing the Saalach river that marks the border between the two countries. Many had camped out on the Austrian side of the border overnight.
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11:35 a.m.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging auto industry managers to give refugees opportunities as her country faces the task of integrating a wave of newcomers.
Merkel said at the Frankfurt auto show that Germany should approach the task with optimism. She said: “My request to you here, in a successful sector of German industry, is wherever opportunities arise to approach people openly, give them chances.”
German authorities expect at least 800,000 migrants, possibly up to 1 million, to arrive this year, though it’s unclear how many will be allowed to stay.
Merkel reiterated: “We want to help those who need protection, but we must also say to those who are coming to us only for economic reasons that they must leave.”
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11:30 a.m.
Hungary’s foreign minister says the European Union should take over the financing of refugee camps for Syrians in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq and, if necessary, support the construction of more camps there.
Peter Szijjarto said that “the interest of people fleeing war zones … is to wait out the end of the war as close as possible to their homes.” He said Hungary was willing to make a “massive contribution” to such efforts.
Szijjarto also reiterated Hungary’s pledge to provide “police officers, soldiers and money” to help set up a joint EU force to block migrants from entering fellow EU member Greece, from where they often continue north toward richer EU countries like Germany.
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11:05 a.m.
European Union lawmakers have backed an EU plan to distribute 120,000 refugees among member countries in a fast-track measure aimed at relieving migration pressure on Greece, Italy and Hungary.
The move in the European Parliament means that EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels next Tuesday will be able to approve the plan if they can overcome opposition from a group of Eastern European nations.
The refugee-sharing scheme drawn up by the EU’s executive Commission was approved in an emergency vote by 372 ballots in favor, 124 against and 54 abstentions.
