Slovenia says it has allowed into
the country most of the 5,000 people who were stranded in wet and muddy
conditions on its border with Croatia on Monday.
It had previously vowed to take in only 2,500 migrants per day.
Croatia has also opened its border with Serbia, where thousands more migrants are trying to reach northern Europe.
Aid agencies have been warning of dire conditions as bottlenecks develop at border crossings in the Balkans.
Hundreds
of thousands of migrants, many from Syria, Africa and Afghanistan, have
been making their way from Turkey to the Balkans in recent months, in a
bid to reach Germany, Sweden and other EU states.
On Monday evening, Germany saw large rival rallies in Dresden to mark the first anniversary of the anti-immigrant group Pegida.
They
come amid fears the group is becoming more radical in response to
Germany's decision to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees this
year.
No-man's land: Border closures leave thousands stranded Long winter sets in: EU pins hope on deteriorating weather Merkel under pressure: Chancellor's migrant policy faces criticism at home Crisis in graphics: Migration numbers explained
Croatia
and Slovenia appeared to ease restrictions on the flow of migrants late
on Monday, after thousands of people were stranded for hours in wet,
cold and windy conditions.
Both countries imposed stricter
controls at the weekend after Hungary, citing security concerns, closed
its southern border and forced migrants to switch to a slower route via
Slovenia.
Slovenia's interior ministry said on Monday that some
5,000 migrants were allowed to enter from Croatia, and 900 of them had
already travelled onwards to Austria by the evening.
Slovenia
earlier criticised Croatia for allowing large groups of migrants over
the border, and breaking an agreement to limit such transfers to 2,500
people a day.
Meanwhile, Croatia decided to open its border late
on Monday, after aid workers warned of "dire" conditions for another
3,000 refugees stuck in cold and wet weather without shelter on the
Serbia-Croatia frontier.
Media captionGuy Delauney: "These are people just caught in politics between the countries"Croatian buses transported the thousands of migrants to a nearby reception centre.
Croatia's
Prime Minister Zoran MIlanovic said his government had hoped to stem
the flow of people but poor conditions on the Serbian side of the border
had forced them to let the migrants through.
"It's apparent that this is no solution, so we will let them through. We will send them toward Slovenia," he said.
Before
Monday's mass crossing, the UNHCR said 10,000 migrants were stranded in
Serbia - with more than 6,000 entering from Macedonia on Monday alone.
Some Serbian officials have also indicated they may in turn hold back arrivals from the south.
More
than 600,000 people, most of them Syrians, have reached Europe so far
this year compared with just over 200,000 for the whole of 2014
Germany has said it expects 800,000 asylum seekers this year, but it is believed the number could be as high as 1.5 million.
Scuffles
broke out during protests in Dresden on Monday, as 20,000 Pegida
supporters confronted a similar number of counter demonstrators amid an
angry backlash over Germany's open-door policy towards migrants.
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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