Hungary Tear-Gas Episode: Croatia Tighten Security On Immigrant

Pressure is mounting on Croatia as the migrant crisis soured after Hungarian riot police used tear gas and water cannons on 16^th of September 2015  to turn back people at that country's border with Serbia.

Migrants attempting to reach Western Europe were left with a difficult choice: Stay and contend with Hungary's tough new border defenses, or set out through Croatia on another uncertain path toward the European Union's wealthier nations.

A day after Croatia opened its border to migrants, the country changed tack Thursday, closing seven border crossings with Serbia after thousands of people streamed in.

In just two days, more than 11,000 migrants have entered Croatia from Serbia. Now "until further notice," the Croatian Interior Ministry said on its website, traffic is banned on roads leading to the seven border crossings.

Things started out smoothly, with police coaxing frightened migrants across the border Wednesday. But by Thursday, chaos erupted as thousands of people broke through police barriers set up at the train station in the border town of Tovarnik.

Women were wailing and police tried to help children as masses of people pushed their way out of the holding area set up for processing.

Police did not use force against the migrants, as they tried to keep the barriers in place. They finally gave up and the migrants started running into Croatia.

Terence Pike, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Croatia, told CNN that Croatian authorities had been prepared to handle only an influx of 500 migrants and refugees a day.

showed a human face, but I stress that the safety of Croatian citizens and the stability of the state comes first," she said.

Croatia can't care for and satisfy the needs of so many people, she said, calling for tougher surveillance across state borders.

Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said the capacity to take in migrants has been reached.

By nightfall, police set up a new perimeter in an attempt to stop more than 1,000 migrants from penetrating farther into Tovarnik, where bullet holes left over from the Balkan wars of the 1990s still scar some buildings.

CNN