A mob of 200 migrants attempted to storm the Croatian border at Maljevac shouting “Allahu Akbar” as they fought with police who deployed tear gas against them.
The clip, which was released over the weekend, shows the group of migrants attempting to cross a small canal and push through the line of police wearing protective gear. The incident occurred at the Croatian town of Maljevac, which lies on the border with Bosnia, Kronen Zeitung reports.
The attempted forced border crossing comes only a month after the Croatian government warned that the Balkan route was seeing tens of thousands of migrants wanting to find a new way to reach Western Europe.
According to the Croatian Interior Ministry, at least 60,000 migrants are currently making their way through Greece, then Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, and finally attempting to cross into Croatia.
“If they find a weakness here, they will be in trouble,” a source from the Interior Ministry said.
While the new populist Italian government coalition has made steps to curb illegal migration, with Interior Minister Matteo Salvini banning migrant transport NGO ships from Italian ports, other members of the European Union such as Greece and Spain are seeing a rise in migrant numbers.
In Greece, Dimitris Mavrides, mayor of the town of Orestiada, situated along the Turkish border, said his town was being overwhelmed with illegal migrants and asylum seekers. “Our reception facilities are overwhelmed and things are on the verge of spinning out of control. Far more are coming than are actually being registered,” he said.
Over the weekend, leaders from 16 EU member states gathered for an informal summit to discuss the migration issue. The meeting was important for German Chancellor Angela Merkel whose coalition allies have given her two weeks to find a “European solution” to the problem or face the possible break-up of the current government.
Merkel came away from the summit without a deal but has another chance on Thursday when a further summit on the issue will be held.
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