Refugees’ plight worsens in Europe
Border closures add to desperation
TOVARNIK, Croatia – Migrants desperate to find sanctuary in Europe climbed through windows and fought for space on trains headed north Sunday as border closures and plunging temperatures increased tensions among thousands in a desperate rush to keep moving.
Scuffles broke out in this Croatian border town when hundreds of people surged toward a train they hoped would take them to Austria. Police tried to hold back the crowd, but were overwhelmed as migrants tried to climb through the windows of the already packed carriages.
Hungary, which closed its border with Serbia Sept. 15, erected another steel barrier at the Beremend border crossing from Croatia to try to slow the flow of migrants. But they kept coming.
The sense of desperation increased for migrants as days of intense heat gave way to rain.
“Unfortunately, we sleep here on the ground without anything. It was very cold,” said Muhammad Dakiri, a Syrian asylum seeker in Tovarnik. “Suddenly the weather has turned to cold and raining. We couldn’t sleep well because in an hour or half an hour we wake up because we’re feeling cold.”
Volunteers handed out tents and warm clothes to make people more comfortable. But migrants abandoned the supplies when word of the train spread through their makeshift encampment, leaving tents, rain slickers and food strewn across the town square.
Hungary’s decision to shut its border with Serbia set off a chain reaction in Croatia and Slovenia that has forced people fleeing violence in the Middle East, Asia and Africa to rush from one European border to the next as they desperately try to find a way north. Thousands more continue to brave the Mediterranean in rickety boats as they try to reach more welcoming countries like Germany and Sweden.
About 15,000 migrants crossed into Austria from Hungary and Croatia over the weekend.
In the Austrian border village of Nickelsdorf, people arrived by foot Sunday after a half-hour walk from the Hungarian town of Hegyeshalom. Then they lined up for buses to take them to shelters in Vienna and other parts of the country.
Austrian officials are scrambling to find places for the migrants to stay because many camps are already overcrowded.