Waves
of migrants seeking to enter the EU from the south-east have been
shunted from one border to another as governments disagree over the
crisis.
Croatia reversed its open-door policy after 17,000
arrivals since Wednesday. It is now sending thousands of migrants north,
angering Slovenia and Hungary.
Hungary, which is putting a fence on its border with Croatia, is reportedly sending new arrivals on to Austria.
Two EU crisis meetings will take place next week.
Many of the migrants are fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thousands
began entering Croatia from Serbia this week after Hungary closed its
Serbian border, and cut off the previous route north.
Croatia had
initially said the migrants would be welcome, but on Friday it said it
was overwhelmed and would not become a "migrant hotspot".
Interior
Minister Ranko Ostojic said that more than 17,000 migrants had arrived
since Wednesday morning and that 3,000 had now crossed into Hungary. Hungary reversed its stance from earlier in the week and let the new arrivals in.
One
train carrying up to 1,000 migrants to Hungary was seized by
authorities there and the driver arrested, the head of Hungary's
disaster unit said, according to Reuters. Some 40 Croatian police were
disarmed, the report said. Croatia later denied this and said the
officers had returned to Croatia.
Hungary is now taking the migrants to two registration centres, close to the border with Austria.
Austria
said it had no co-ordination with Hungary to take the migrants. It
reserved the right to deny entry to migrants who did not request asylum
because they wanted to continue travelling north to Germany or
elsewhere.
Separately, hundreds of migrants set off for Slovenia,
to the west. The BBC's Christian Fraser, at the Slovenia-Croatia
border, said the number of migrants arriving was building on Friday
evening.
Slovenian police pepper sprayed about 500 migrants at one bridge on the border, Associated Press reported. Migrant crisis: Day's events as they happened Image caption
Hungarian police watch migrants at the Beremend crossing with Croatia
EU in disarray - Chris Morris, BBC News, Brussels
There
are clearly no simple solutions, but criticism of the EU's incoherent
response to the refugee crisis is mounting, and Europe's leaders know
it.
Two EU meetings next week will be crucial, if that trend is to
be reversed. But they'll take place amid serious disagreements between
EU member states.
Governments in central Europe are issuing
strong criticism of each other - for failing to protect their borders,
or for passing the buck. And several of them blame Germany for
encouraging so many migrants to travel in the first place.
Germany,
in turn, has warned again that any country showing a lack of solidarity
on this issue cannot count - over time - on receiving money from the
rest of the EU.
If this becomes not just a difference of opinion, but a clash of values, then Europe could be in real trouble. In other developments:
Turkish police sealed off the road to
Greece at the border town of Edirne after several hundred migrants tried
to make the crossing
Germany is to set up a tent settlement to accommodate 5,000 people in Bavaria, the entry point for migrants coming from Austria
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier said EU members reluctant to accept migrant quotas might have
to be over-ruled with a majority vote at a summit on 23 September
The latest EU figures show
that in the second quarter of 2015, 213,200 first-time asylum seekers
applied for protection, up 15% on the first quarter and up 85% on the
same quarter in 2014
Image caption
There was a huge crush to board a train out of Tovarnik on the Croatia-Serbia border
Slovenian anger
Earlier, Hungary announced it was building a new fence along part of its border with Croatia.
It
was Hungary's completion of a razor-wire fence along its border with
Serbia earlier this week that forced Serbia to move migrants towards
Croatia.
Hungary's new laws made attempts to cross its frontier
illegal, and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Friday accused Croatia
of encouraging "masses of people to commit a criminal offence".
Read more coverage of the migrant crisis
Follow BBC correspondents on Twitter covering the crisis How is the migrant crisis dividing Europe? What is the next route through Europe? Refugee child dies at German welcome party Migrants warned of landmines in Croatia Clashes leave Hungary bitterly divided Croatian officials said earlier that every border
crossing with Serbia except the main road linking Belgrade and Zagreb -
at Bajakovo - had been closed.
Many migrants who managed to enter were rounded up by Croatian police and sent to reception centres.
Some were taken to the capital, Zagreb, but many were also trying to get to Slovenia on foot.
The Slovenian interior ministry said it expected some 1,000 migrants to arrive in the next 24 hours. Image caption
Many migrants were sent to a reception centre in Beli Manastir after crossing into Croatia
Image caption
Hungarian police begin building a razor fence on the Croatia border
Image caption
Hundreds of migrants try to walk to the
Greece-Turkey border at Edirne, forcing Turkish police to seal off the
road
Bostjan Sefic, state secretary at the Slovenian interior ministry, accused Croatia of breaking the rules of both the EU and the Schengen free movement agreement by deciding to no longer register migrants.
It has closed its rail service to Croatia.
However,
Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar later said that if the pressure of
arrivals became too great, it might seek to form corridors allowing
migrants safe passage.
The
crisis has challenged the Schengen regime, with Germany, Austria and
Slovakia all reimposing checks on parts of their borders.
EU regulations dictate refugees must register and claim asylum in the first member state they reach.
But many migrants and refugees wish to continue on to Germany and Austria. Migrant crisis in Europe: Key dates
13 July: Hungary starts building razor-wire fence on border with Serbia
19 Aug: Germany says it expects to receive 800,000 asylum applications by the end of 2015
27 Aug: Bodies of 71 Syrian migrants found in lorry in Austria
2 Sept: Image of body of three-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi, washed ashore in Turkey, moves public opinion worldwide
12 Sept: Record 4,330 migrants cross into Hungary
13 Sept: Germany reintroduces border controls with Austria in shock migrant policy U-turn. Other EU nations also later resume controls
15 Sept: Hungary enacts tough laws on migrants crossing its new Serbian border fence. Thousands of migrants turn to Croatian route
18 Sept: Croatia transports migrants over its border into Hungary. Hungary rushes to build new border fence there
Are you seeking refuge in Europe? Are you in Serbia, Hungary or Croatia? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
A note on terminology: The BBC uses
the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to
complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes
people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be
granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and
better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.
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