Migrants seek new routs amid impasse in Balkans

PanARMENIAN.Net - Migrants stranded in Croatia have been making renewed efforts to head north despite moves by Slovenia and Hungary to hold them back, BBC News reports.

Slovenian police used pepper spray on Friday, September 18 night to disperse a group trying to cross from Croatia.

Hungary, meanwhile, accused Croatia of breaking international law after asylum seekers were sent over the border without first being registered. The EU, which is divided on the crisis, is to hold emergency talks next week.

Overnight, thousands of migrants trying to pass through the Balkans to reach northern EU states spent the night at railway stations or sleeping alongside roads.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people slept on a major motorway near Edirne in north-western Turkey, after Turkish police stopped them from crossing the border into Greece on Friday evening.

As controls have got tighter, many migrants have strayed from transport routes, walking through cornfields to reach borders.

In a day of chaos and confusion on Friday, people were shunted from one border to another as governments remained split over how to handle the crisis.

Thousands entered Croatia from Serbia earlier this week after Hungary fenced off its Serbian border and sealed shut the previous route north.

Croatia had initially said migrants would be welcome, but on Friday said it was overwhelmed after seeing 17,000 arrivals since Wednesday. It has closed all border crossings with Serbia except the main road linking Belgrade and Zagreb.