'Unfaithful women will be stoned, thieves' hands will be cut off and veils will deprive us of the beauty of women': Czech President says Middle Eastern migrants will refuse to respect his country's laws 

• Czech President said migrants will stone women and cut off thieves' hands
• Milos Zeman claimed Islamic veils will deprive country of women's beauty
• Comments came as hundreds trapped in Croatia reached Slovenian border
• Hungary closed border with Croatia last night, forcing migrants to Slovenia
• More on Europe's migrant crisis: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/migrantcrisis

By Jay Akbar and Jenny Stanton For Mailonline

Published: 03:02 EST, 17 October 2015 | Updated: 15:55 EST, 17 October 2015

Czech President Milos Zeman has sparked outrage by claiming migrants will stone unfaithful women and cut off thieves' hands, while Islamic veils will deprive his country of women's beauty.

The outspoken politician, 71, who is known for his controversial remarks, told employees at a butcher's shop in the eastern village of Lechotice: 'We'll be deprived of women's beauty, because they'll be covered from head to toe. 

'This would obviously be an advantage for some women, but they're few and far between.'

His comments come as hundreds of migrants trapped in Croatia reached Slovenia today, after Hungary shut its border.

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Outrage: Czech President Milos Zeman has sparked outrage by claiming migrants will stone unfaithful women and cut off thieves' hands

On their way: Migrants are registered in Lendava after crossing the Croatian-Slovenian border today

Yesterday, Zeman also claimed migrants would 'respect sharia instead of Czech laws', adding: 'Unfaithful women will be stoned and thieves will have their hands cut off.'

In August, after dozens of migrants tried to flee a detention centre, the president told them: 'No one invited you here... You must respect our rules.'

His remarks come after human rights activists and lawyers condemned police in the Czech Republic for writing numbers on the arms of migrants after detaining them last month.

Officers used pens to mark 214 refugees, mostly Syrians, who were detained on a train at a border crossing from Austria and Hungary.

The measure provoked anger because it recalls Nazi Germany's practice of writing numbers on concentration camp prisoners.

Czech police said Friday it had intercepted 7,201 migrants in the first nine months of this year, more than double the number during the same period in 2014. 

Desperate measures: Carrying what little belongings they have, a migrant family walks to a registration center at a Croatia-Slovenia border crossing in Lendava

Departures: Migrants board a bus at a registration centre on the Croatia-Slovenia border which will take them to Austria

Today, migrants trapped in Croatia reached the Slovenian border after Hungary shut its border with the country last night.

Buses carrying more than 600 have already arrived at the border crossings of Gruskovje and Petisovci, Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said.

Hungary, which also built a 110-mile-long barb wire fence along its border with Serbia, said it closed the crossing to 'protect the freedoms' of European citizens.

The blockade at the Hungary-Croatia border forced thousands of migrants to divert to Slovenia, home to two million people, where the new arrivals will be registered before 'most of them' are transferred to the Austrian border.

Slovenia cancelled all trains from Croatia so migrants could not enter the country that way. Experts fear the move will leave thousands of migrants stranded in Croatia, which is 'ill-equipped' to deal with them. 

Waiting: Migrants wait in Gruskovje, on the Croatian-Slovenian border, before they are transferred by bus to Austria

Diversion: Migrants in Croatia are forced to make their way towards Slovenia after Hungary closed its border to the country last night

Desperate: A young migrants girl stands ankle-deep in mud, as thousands of them begin trudging towards the tiny county of Slovenia

Slovenia said it would ramp up border controls and create entry points for migrants to come into the country, but promised to keep accepting them as long as Austria and Germany kept their borders open.

Croatia, which expects to transport more than 2,400 migrants to its border with Slovenia today, said it would close its border if others did the same.

Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said: 'Slovenia will not close its border unless Germany closes its border, in that case Croatia will have to do the same.' 

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said 300 migrants had been brought to Petisovci while another 300 were taken to Gruskovje, both on the Croatia-Slovenia border.

UNHCR spokeswoman Caroline van Buren said: 'They are being registered by police and then taken to a refugee camp in Sentilj, close to the Austrian border.

Van Buren said the majority of people being registered were refugees from Syria and Iraq, adding: 'They are fleeing from war... They are literally running for their lives.'

Croatian railway authorities said a train carrying 1,800 migrants had left the border area and was due to arrive in the northern town of Cakovek, on the Slovenian border, at 2.30pm GMT.

The numbers expected to arrive would be a first for Slovenia which only saw around 3,500 migrants arrive over past month after it reinforced border controls in mid-September.

Hungary closed the Croatian border in a bid to block tens of thousands of refugees and migrants from reaching their desired destination of Germany via Budapest and Austria.

Aggressive tactics: The border between Hungary and Croatia has been closed to 'illegal' migrants, the Hungarian government said, as barbed wire fences were up to seal the crossing

Long journey: The blockade at the Hungary-Croatia border forced thousands of migrants (pictured) to divert to Slovenia, home to two million people, where the first arrivals are now being registered

No entry Hungarian police and soldiers close the border between Hungary and Croatia with a barbed wire fence (pictured)

Blockade: Hungary, which has also erected a 110-mile-long wire fence along its border with Serbia, shut the crossing from Croatia (pictured) last night

Trapped: Hungarian police and soldiers sealed the Croatia-Hungary border with barbed wire shortly before 1:00am (2300 GMT Friday) last night

Hungarian police allowed around 1,500 migrants to trudge across the Zakany crossing into their country before sealing the border at around 1am (11pm GMT) last night.

Omar Thaqfa, a 33-year-old refugee from the embattled Iraqi city of Mosul, said: 'We have been in cold since two in the morning in Serbia. We were sitting in the street. Very cold. I am going to Germany.'

The migrants and refugee with the right documents can still seek asylum in European countries but economic migrants will be unable to cross freely into Europe.  

Hungary's shut-down came as an EU deal with Turkey, designed to help migrants looked on the brink of collapse.

Turkey accused Europe of offering up too little money to defuse the crisis, which has seen around 600,000 mostly-Syrians land on Europe's shores this year, and said the plan to stem these arrivals was 'just a draft'.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: 'They [Europe] announce they'll take in 30,000 to 40,000 refugees and then they are nominated for the Nobel for that. We are hosting two and a half million refugees but nobody cares.'

He also urged the EU to take Ankara's bid for EU membership more seriously, saying: 'They keep saying: 'We can't do without Turkey'. Then why don't you let Turkey in the EU?'

Erdogan's foreign minister said the EU's initial proposals for any deal were 'unacceptable' and said his country needed at least £2.2billion in the first year. 

Exodus: As migrants make their way to Slovenia (pictured), experts warn Hungary's latest shut-down could leave them stranded in Croatia 

Helpless: It meant the migrants and refugees - many of whom are fleeing conflict or poverty - had to divert towards Slovenia as they try to reach Germany

Keep out: Experts warn the blockade set up on the Hungary-Croatia border (pictured) could leave them trapped in Croatia which is 'ill-equipped' to deal with them 

No way in: Earlier in the day Croatia announced that it would divert migrants to Slovenia after Hungary said it would close the border (pictured) with its fellow EU member

Following orders: Hungarian border guards put up a barbed wire fence to stop migrants from entering the country from Croatia

Turkey did agree to tackle people smugglers, cooperate with EU border police and stem Syrian refugees reaching Greece by sea as part of a tentative deal.

In exchange, European leaders promised to speed the process which would allow Turkish people to obtain visas to Europe more easily and give the country more money to tackle the migrant crisis.

EU leaders did not specify how much money they would give Ankara but said the £2.2billion demanded would be a 'problem'.

While the EU summit was underway, an Afghan refugee was shot dead as he tried to cross Turkey's border into Bulgaria, in what the United Nations said was the first incident of its kind.

He was among a group of 54 migrants who were spotted by police near the south-eastern town of Sredets.

Officials said he was wounded by a ricocheting bullet after border guards fired warning shots into the air, when the unarmed migrants tried to resist arrest.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said he 'deeply regrets' the shooting but said it showed the need for 'rapid common European measures' to tackle the crisis.

More than 3,000 migrants have died trying to get to Europe this year, with most of them drowning in the Mediterranean.

Hungary's decision to close its border with Croatia came soon after EU leaders in Brussels failed to agree on a plan to send EU forces to stop migrants from reaching Greece.

False hope: Migrants make their way to the border with Hungary yesterday, before the crossing was shut by the authorities

Hurry: Migrants disembark from a train in Botovo, on the Croatia-Hungary border yesterday, in a desperate attempt to make it to the crossing before Hungary shuts it

Thousands tried to rush through Croatia and across the border before Hungary closed the border at midnight, and those who didn't make it through may be left stranded on their way to western Europe

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the border, reinforced with a razor-wire fence, was closed after leaders refused to approve a plan to send EU forces to stop migrants getting into Greece

Minutes after the shut-down, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said: 'The Hungarian government has taken the steps ... to protect the internal European freedoms and the security of the citizens of Hungary and Europe.'

Foreign minister Szijjarto announced earlier that the border, reinforced with a razor-wire fence, would be closed from midnight after a meeting of the national security Cabinet.

He said normal border checkpoints between the two countries will remain open, though inspections will be tightened.

Szijjarto said: 'We know that this is not the best, but only the second-best solution. We will introduce stricter controls to be able to block border crossings done illegally.'

Croatia is a member of the European Union but unlike Hungary, it is not part of the Schengen zone of passport-free travel.  

Over 383,000 migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia have entered Hungary this year, nearly all on their way to Germany and other destinations further west in the EU. 

The country clamped down on its border with Serbia with 110-mile-long fence which spanned the entire length of the two countries' border on September 15. 

Although Croatia is also a member of the European Union, unlike Hungary it is not part of the Schengen zone of passport-free travel 

Experts feat that many migrants will now be stranded in Croatia, which is ill-prepared to provide for them in large numbers.

Lydia Gall, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Budapest, said: 'There is no way Croatia can cope with ... accommodating and providing for the immediate needs for these people.

'Within days you would end up having tens of thousands of people in Croatia and further down the Western Balkan route, in Serbia and Macedonia.'

Hungary's fellow members of the so-called Visegrad Group —  Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — are sending dozens of soldiers, police and equipment to support Hungarian forces guarding the border with Croatia.

Hungarian officials said their cooperation would be an example to the rest of the EU regarding joint border protection.

Since Hungary erected the fence on the Serbian border, hundreds of migrants have breached the barrier, which is considered a criminal offence.

On Friday, 16 men accused of entering Hungary illegally were tried in a court in the southern city of Szeged.

One of those men, Rajab Al Khalil, said he was trying to reach Germany after escaping the ISIS terrorists controlling his hometown.

The 28-year-old from Mosul said: 'I did not know which country I was in until I saw the Hungarian flag on the uniform of police. If I can leave, I will never come back here.' 

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