Tensions rising as thousands of refugees stream into the Balkans
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THOUSANDS of refugees again streamed into the Balkans yesterday where tighter border controls caused tense bottlenecks, as Germany braced for anger at an anniversary rally of the anti-refugee PEGIDA movement.
Europe’s unprecedented influx has seen asylum seekers — mainly fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — traveling via Turkey, Greece and the western Balkans, hoping to seek safe haven in Germany and other EU states.
Tensions have built along the migrant trail after Hungary shut its key borders with razor wire — diverting the flow west to Slovenia, which in turn also limited arrivals, as did Croatia.
Yesterday, thousands of refugees waited in cold and heavy rain at one of the chokepoints, Berkasovo on the Serbia-Croatia frontier, where families huddled around fires and children walked barefoot in the mud.
“This is beyond our capacity,” said Czech volunteer Jan Pinos. “There is no one from the authorities here. We need police, army, some tents, food.”
He warned of “increasing tension” and desperation among pregnant women and children, including a baby that nearly died overnight in the chaos.
“It’s a matter of time before this is out of control,” Pinos told reporters as more continued to arrive on foot or in taxis and buses.
More than 15,000 crossed from Greece into Macedonia at the weekend, local authorities said. From there, the UN refugee office said, 10,000 marched on into Serbia overnight.
By the agency’s count, more than 600,000 migrants have come to Europe’s shores so far this year, on dangerous journeys that have left more than 3,000 dead or missing.
The ultimate goal for many is the EU’s biggest economy, Germany, which expects to take in around 1 million refugees this year, and where Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy has sparked a dangerous backlash.
Two days after a man with a neo-Nazi background stabbed a pro-refugee politician in the neck, Germany’s anti-refugee PEGIDA movement was planning a mass rally to mark its first anniversary.
Police expected thousands to join the “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident” demonstration in Dresden in the former communist East, as well as a large antifascist counter-protest.
The movement had all but vanished after pictures surfaced in January showing its co-founder Lutz Bachmann sporting a Hitler moustache, but it has made a comeback since September, when Merkel opened the doors to a surge of asylum seekers.
Angry protesters have accused her of “treason” and last week carried a mock gallows with Merkel’s name on it.
The chancellor yesterday again urged people to “stay away from those with hate in their hearts,” her spokesman said.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said PEGIDA’s organizers were “hardcore right-wing extremists” and implored citizens to “stay away from those who inject this hate, this poison into our country.”
Anti-foreigner sentiment motivated the attack in Cologne on Saturday when a 44-year-old man used a hunting knife to stab independent mayoral candidate Henriette Reker, 58, who has been active in helping refugees.
Reker won Sunday’s election with an absolute majority.
De Maiziere said the attack had left him “speechless” and also pointed to a tripling of attacks against asylum seekers.
Tension has also flared inside some refugee shelters. In Hamburg, an 18-year-old Afghan man had head wounds after a mass brawl.
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