Thousands of Muslim invaders continue their move through Croatia and Slovenia to the heart of Europe |
2,000 Muslim invaders headed toward Austria in 4 trains
Authorities in Slovenia say around 2,000 migrants from a refugee camp at the Croatian border are traveling in four trains toward Austria.
The state railway company Slovenske Zeleznice said Thursday three trains were headed toward the Sentilj border crossing in the northeast while the last one is going to Jesenice, in the northwest, for the first time since migrants took a turn toward Slovenia on Saturday.
More than 1,000 asylum seekers have streamed out of a crowded Austrian collection point on the border with Slovenia after Austrian police removed barriers to prevent possible violence.
Police said some followed instructions and regrouped outside the barriers Thursday but many continued walking northward away from the Spielfeld border crossing.
Slovenian police say more than 12,000 people crossing from Croatia on Wednesday, raising the total to more than 34,000 since Saturday.Slovenia mulls declaring a state of emergency over Muslim invasion crisis
Slovenia became a new link in the migrant trail after Hungary closed its border. Asylum seekers who had reached Croatia then turned to Slovenia as the alternative.
Some 12,616 migrants entered the country on Wednesday, higher than the usual number of up to 10,000 people reported by countries along the so-called Balkan corridor.
An official of Slovenia's ruling party official says declaring a state of emergency over the migrant crisis remains a possibility although the government hopes to avoid that by granting some police powers to the army.
Simona Kustec Lipicer, a senior official of Prime Minister Miro Cerar's Modern Center Party, said Thursday the state of emergency could be declared in case of "drastic deterioration in the situation."
#Slovenia brings out tanks & riot police to deal with massive migrant influx as 12,000 enter the country in 24 hours pic.twitter.com/EWfkqRlj3N
— Israel News Flash (@ILNewsFlash) October 22, 2015
The Czech Republic's president and the Interior Minister have rejected the criticism by the U.N. human rights chief of their country's policy of detaining migrants and refugees and their treatment.
Speaking through his spokesman Jiri Ovcacek, President Milos Zeman dismissed the criticism as a campaign against the Czech Republic. Ovcacek says Zeman is not ready to change his critical views of Islam and the refugees.
Zeman previously said that asylum-seekers might bring terrorism and infectious diseases, and called for the deployment of the armed forces to protect the country's borders against them.
Police in Slovenia say one man has been stabbed in a scuffle among refugees crossing from Croatia to Slovenia.
Police said the incident took place near Rigonci earlier Thursday. They say the wounded man has received medical treatment.
Slovenia has formally requested European Union aid in managing the influx of thousands of migrants crossing through on their way toward wealthy countries in Western Europe.
Interior Ministry official Bostjan Sefic said Thursday the request has been sent to the European Commission. He spoke hours ahead of a visit by European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos.
Officials say more than 5,000 people arrived in Slovenia by noon on Thursday alone and more than 38,000 have come since Saturday, when Hungary closed its border with Croatia.
The tiny European nation of 2 million says it has been overwhelmed by the migrant influx and has called on the army to help police with border duties.
Hungary's prime minister says if the European Union is incapable of stopping the waves of people arriving at its "eastern gate" of Greece, they must be stopped at its "western gate" of Hungary and Slovenia.
Speaking Thursday at a meeting of the European People's Party in Madrid, Prime Minister Viktor Orban described those escaping poverty and war in the Middle East, Asia and Africa as a "people's migration made up of economic immigrants, refugees and armed foreigners."
Orban is adamantly opposed to taking in the migrants.
Orban said there was a "moral responsibility to give these people back their homes and countries. But it can't be our goal to provide a new European life for them."
Germany braces for rise in anti-migrant attacks
Fears that anti-immigrant fervour is growing in Germany have been given fresh impetus by security experts who have warned the country to brace itself for a rise in xenophobic attacks as a growing number of protesters turn to violence to vent their anger over Europe’s refugee crisis.
A confidential report by the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) that has been leaked to German media said the far-right scene had been spurred on by the continuing influx of refugees to Germany and experts believed that what it referred to as the group’s sense of “agitation” towards the government’s asylum policy was set to intensify. It warned that asylum seekers, volunteers and politicians were under particular threat.
SWEDEN: Masked sword-wielding attacker enters school grounds stabs 4 students & teacher Attacker shot dead by police pic.twitter.com/XTDXVVVUAW
— Israel News Flash (@ILNewsFlash) October 22, 2015
UPDATE - SWEDEN: After teacher dies in sword attack, number of fatalities rise to 2 when young student succumbs to her stabbing wounds.
— Israel News Flash (@ILNewsFlash) October 22, 2015