Croatia warns it will struggle to cope after 5,650 migrants enter the country as Hungary faces worldwide condemnation for using tear gas to disperse crowds at its border

• Croatia is the new route of choice for western Europe-bound refugees after Hungary sealed its Serbian border
• Some 5,650 refugees have entered the EU member state via its eastern border with Serbia over the past 24 hours
• Yesterday, heavy-handed Hungarian riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at migrants, sparking global outrage
• Border guards detained 29 people during the clashes, including a man identified by officials as a known 'terrorist' 
• Serbia's PM Aleksandar Vucic accused his neighbouring country of 'brutal' and 'non-European' behaviour  

By John Hall for MailOnline

Published: 02:11 EST, 17 September 2015 | Updated: 05:21 EST, 17 September 2015

Some 5,650 refugees have entered Croatia from Serbia over the past 24 hours after Hungary sealed its border with a razor wire fence guarded by riot police armed with tear gas and water cannon, it emerged today.

New arrivals are entering the EU member state via its eastern border, which has become the route of choice for those hoping to reach western Europe.

Thanks to its close proximity to the Serbia, thousands of migrants are expected to pass over the Croatia-Hungary border in the coming days, despite the fact it was heavily mined during the Balkans War in the 1990s and remains incredibly dangerous.

This morning a further 5,000 migrants attempted to board trains to the Croatian capital Zagreb from the small town of Tovarnik - stretching local infrastructure to breaking point.

The news comes as Hungary faces worldwide condemnation for using tear gas to disperse crowds at its border, with Serbia's prime minister Aleksandar Vucic accusing the country of 'brutal' and 'non-European' behaviour towards migrants and warning it not to fire tear gas onto its territory again.

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New route of choice: Some 4,000 refugees have entered Croatia from Serbia over the past 24 hours after Hungary sealed its border with a razor wire fence guarded by armed riot police. New arrivals are entering the EU member state via its eastern border

Exhausted: A Syrian girl is seen sitting in front of heavily armed Hungarian riot police at the Serbian border yesterday afternoon

Bloodied: Yesterday hundreds of refugees smashed through razor-wire fences into Hungary after chaos at the country's border. Hungarian riot police hit back with tear gas and water cannon, leaving many refugees injured - even those not taking part in the protests

Attack: Hungary faces worldwide condemnation for using tear gas to disperse crowds at its border, with Serbia's prime minister Aleksandar Vucic accusing the country of 'brutal' and 'non-European' behaviour 

Route: New arrivals are entering Croatia via its eastern border, which has become the route of choice for those hoping to reach western Europe. Thanks to its close proximity to the Serbia, thousands of migrants are expected to pass over the Croatia-Hungary border in the coming days, despite the fact it was heavily mined during the Balkans War in the 1990s and remains incredibly dangerous

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said late last night that the country was prepared for the arrival of migrants but could not cope if the numbers increased dramatically.

'We are ready to (provide) asylum to a few thousand people and we can handle that, but we are not ready for tens of thousands,' Pusic told HRT.

'We do not have capacities' for such an influx, she added.

This morning around 4,000-5,000 migrants attempted to board trains to the Croatian capital Zagreb from the small town of Tovarnik after crossing the border with Serbia, the UN refugee agency said.

'There are between 4,000 and 5,000 people here,' Jan Kapic, a UNHCR spokesman, said from Tovarnik station in eastern Croatia. 'Trains are coming but they can't take all these people.'

Up to 5,000 people arrived at the tiny train station overnight. The station was overwhelmed as people slept all along the side of the tracks, with only a handful of Red Cross workers on hand to give out food and provisions for the hundreds of babies and children there.

More help was on the way, said Kapic, including medical assistance and toilets, the first of which we're being delivered around 9 am.

'For now we have enough but more will be needed and is on the way...It is very hard to say if this will become the next transit camp. It is down to the Croatian government how it deals with this,' he added.

Kapic also said that the migrants were now coming straight to the train station without going to the police station for registration, with police overwhelmed by the numbers.

It is unclear where the migrants would go from Croatia, which borders Slovenia, Austria and Hungary, all of which are members of the passport-free Schengen zone, unlike Croatia.

Divided: Around 200 frustrated refugees blocked on the Serbian side of the border yesterday, throwing plastic water bottles at rows of helmeted riot police and chanting demands that the border be re-opened

Blast: Hungarian police are pictured firing tear gas and water cannon at refugees across the border in Serbia yesterday

An injured refugee is seen at the Serbia-Hungary border this morning, just hours after fierce clashes with Hungarian border guards

Restricted: Even those wanting to avoid the landmine-packed Croatia-Hungary border are now likely to see the country as the best route into the hallowed Schengen Area - the European countries that have removed passport controls and allow people to pass in and out of member states without restriction. As the inset map shows, Croatia's border with Hungary and Serbia is littered with vast minefields

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic was to hold talks in Zagreb later today with his Austrian counterpart, Chancellor Werner Faymann. Faymann would then travel to Ljubljana to meet Slovenian premier Miro Cerar, his office said. 

Milanovic had vowed that his country would allow free passage of migrants across its territory. A crisis meeting of Croatia's top security body, the National Security Council, is to be held tomorrow.

Croatia, a former Yugoslav republic, has some 6,000 border police deployed. Since the start of the crisis the Croatian authorities have urged solidarity with migrants, recalling its own role in accommodating hundreds of thousands of refugees during the 1990s Balkans wars.

Croatian authorities say they are forming a special body to deal with the influx. 

Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said the country has the situation under control. But he warned that 'if huge waves start coming through Serbia we must consider different moves.'

Croatia represents a longer and more arduous route into Europe for the asylum-seekers from Syria and elsewhere who have been fleeing into Europe in the past months. 

But they have little choice after Hungary sealed off its southern border with Serbia on Tuesday and began arresting anyone caught trying to enter the country illegally. 

Overnight, Hungarian authorities positioned barbed wire and a new gate at the border where the clashes occurred, which was at one of two border crossings near the Serbian village of Horgos.

Early this morning hundreds of migrants remained at the two border crossings, but their numbers dwindled as many of them headed toward the Croatian border. Serbian state TV reported that 70 buses transported people overnight to the border with Croatia.

Family: A father holds his child as desperate refugees walk the final few miles from Serbia into neighbouring Croatia

Hundreds of refugees are crossing into Croatia from Serbia two days after Hungary sealed its border with razor wire and armed guards

A refugee who was injured during yesterday's clashes at the border with Hungary stands in the Serbian village of Horgos earlier today

A refugee who badly injured his arm during yesterday's clashes stands on the Serbian side of the Hungarian border fence today

On their way to a new life: A mother holds a child as refugees walk the final few miles from Serbia to Croatia

During yesterday's clashes at the Hungary-Serbia border, 29 people were detained - including a man identified by officials as a 'terrorist'. 

Hungary's decision this week to shut the EU's external border with Serbia was the most forceful attempt yet by a European country to reduce the flood of refugees and economic migrants overwhelming the bloc.

As thousands of migrants scattered across the Balkan peninsula tried to reach the EU, Hungary's prime minister said his country planned to put up a fence along parts of its border with Croatia and on the frontier with Romania to stem the flow.

Helmeted riot police backed by armoured vehicles took up positions at the barricaded border crossing with Serbia, where male migrant youths pelted them with stones, demanding entry.

Three Hungarian military Humvees, mounted with guns, also arrived at the border. 

Hungary said it detained a 'terrorist' among 29 migrants held during the clashes. At least 20 policemen and two children were injured, a Hungarian security official said.

'Police also captured an identified terrorist,' Gyorgy Bakondi, a security adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told state television M1. A government spokesman said the man was 'in the database of security services'.

'It is getting very ugly there,' said Ahmad, 58, a shopkeeper from Baghdad who went to the official border crossing at Sid in Serbia but realised he may have a better chance of entering the EU via Serbia's border with Croatia.

'As soon as we heard about a route to Croatia we did not wait long. I want to go to Sweden to meet the rest of my family. I hope we will be treated better in Croatia,' he said.

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