The latest on the migrant crisis in Croatia.
From midnight to 9 am on Tuesday, 2,097 refugees entered Croatia. There were 1,067 people accommodated in the temporary reception centre in Slavonski Brod. Since the beginning of the migration crisis, 549,915 migrants and refugees have passed through Croatia, reports Jutarnji List and Index.hr on December 29, 2015.
Due to the strengthening of security measures after an assessment of possible terrorist threats before the New Year, in the last few days Austria has refused to accept a certain number of refugees and migrants from Slovenia who could not be identified.
"During the last few days, Austria has raised the threat level and increased controls on borders", said Drago Menegalija, a spokesman for the Slovenian police, confirming that Austria has turned down three buses from Slovenia with about 150 refugees and migrants because of problems with their identification.
The migrants were refused because they did not want to participate in the process that was supposed to establish their true identity and country of origin, and are currently accommodated in a refugee centre in Postojna, said Menegalija who added that it was a temporary solution and that he hoped that they would be able to enter Austria when their true identity is established. Slovenian television POP TV claims that the real reason for the decision was the fact that Austria determined they were not from Syria as they claimed, but mostly from Morocco and Iran.
Austrian security agencies on Saturday raised the level of preparedness for terrorist attacks because of reports of an increased risk in the days before the New Year. In a refugee camp in Leibnitz, Austrian police arrested two young Syrian brothers suspected to be linked to Islamist extremists. Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said on Tuesday that she expected around 120,000 asylum applications in the next year. Although Austria has so far accepted migrants and refugees moving on the so-called Balkan route, the Minister announced tightening of the laws relating to granting asylum for refugees and migrants.
Republic of Korea has donated 200,000 dollars to Croatian Caritas for refugees and migrants accommodated in Croatia. The donation was received by the President of Croatian Caritas Josip Mrzljak and presented by the Korean ambassador Suh Hyung-Won. Mrzljak thanked the Korean government for recognizing the efforts of Caritas in response to the needs of refugees. "About 550,000 refugees have passed through Croatia so far. People are mostly not aware of what is happening with these human tragedies, especially for those fleeing from the wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan", Mrzljak said.
