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UN Calls Hungary 'Xenophobic' as Stranded Migrants now Head for Croatia

VICE News is in Serbia, where migrants have been tear-gassed by Hungarian police. With that frontier shut, people are now heading for Croatia, which has readied the army to secure its borders.
Photo by Harriet Salem

Europe's migrant crisis continued to escalate today, as the UN human rights chief described Hungary's treatment of refugees as "xenophobic and anti-Muslim," and Croatia's president readied his armed forces to secure the country's borders.

Hungary's right-wing government has built a metal fence all along its frontier with Serbia to keep out people trying to reach the European Union (EU), under a crackdown launched on Tuesday that has seen asylum seekers rejected within hours of entering no-man's land.

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The situation turned violent on Wednesday as Hungarian police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesting migrants.

Today, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said that Hungary's crackdown this week has at times violated international law.  Images of women and children being assaulted with tear gas and water cannon at Hungary's frontier with Serbia were "truly shocking," Zeid said.

Related: Video Shows Hungarian Police Firing Tear Gas and Water Cannon at Migrants

"I am appalled at the callous, and in some cases illegal, actions of the Hungarian authorities in recent days, which include denying entry to, arresting, summarily rejecting and returning refugees, using disproportionate force on migrants and refugees, as well as reportedly assaulting journalists and seizing video documentation."

On the ground, in the Serbian border village of Horgos, VICE News found several hundred people remaining in the makeshift camp hoping that the frontier might reopen. In front of the barbed wire fence next to a long-abandoned duty free store, a dozen or so refugees held a protest as a handful of Serbian police stood at the side of the road. Signs read "We Want Peace" and "We Are Refugees."

Photo by Harriet Salem

"We don't want to set off on the road without any information. "People are just drifting around like astronauts in space" said Jehad Alskaf, a 45-year-old doctor from the Syrian region of Damascus. "We are worried we will just travel to Slovenia to find that border is also closed."

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Many of those who decided to stay were families with young children and those who said they had near run out of money.

Standing out a small tent at the roadside, 28-year-old Aran from Kobane showed a video on his cellphone of his group's boat crossing from Turkey to Greece. "We paid $1,200 to travel 14 kilometers (8.6 miles), now we have only a little money left," he told VICE News. "We will stay and wait, they have to open the border," added 46-year-old Amdia. "We won't leave, no Croatia, no, no Croatia."

Related: Refugee Air: We Spoke to the Guy Who Plans to Fly Syrians to Sweden

Since Wednesday morning more than 7,000 migrants have entered Croatia from Serbia after Hungary closed its border, Today, Croatia's President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic asked the army to be ready, if necessary, to protect national borders, the state news agency Hina reported.

"Croatia's president met the army chief of staff and required a higher level of alert and the army and to be ready, if need be, to protect the national borders from the illegal migration," Hina reported. Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said earlier on Thursday that Croatia could not receive more migrants.

Photo by Harriet Salem

Back in Horgos, however, packed up their belongings and crammed on to buses headed for Serbia's border. "We could stay here for days for nothing, it won't open," Ahmer Salum said as he hiked toward the pick-up point with a group of young Syrian friends. "It's dangerous here, maybe the fights can start again."

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On the road leading up to the border medical teams treated a steady stream of people, mainly for injuries sustained from walking and heat exhaustion.

Piles of clothes and trash littered the area where until recently thousands of people were camped out. On the Hungarian side of the border a helicopter circled over ahead.

Related: Demining Experts Called to Croatia's Border as Migrants Reroute

Back in Horgos local people continued with their daily lives but said that the situation was troubling. "We've suddenly become the center of the world," said 23-year-old bartender George. Most the town's residents are ethnic Hungarians and hundreds travel across the border daily for work, study, and to visit family.

"It's a big problem that the border is shut, but I think it's the right thing to do Hungary has to draw a line Greece should have stopped this and there wouldn't be such a mess here now," added George.

Photo by Harriet Salem

Watch the VICE News dispatch Marching Through Police Lines: Breaking Borders:

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