Migrant families with children who left their shelter on Monday morning and headed towards the Izacic border crossing, in the northwest of Bosnia, have spent the night outdoors after the police prevented them from crossing the border with Croatia.
A spokesperson for the Una-Sana Canton (USC) Interior Ministry, Snezana Galic, confirmed the migrants were under control of Bosnia’s Border Police.
The migrants left the hotel near Bihac where they were accommodated Monday morning and walked to this northwestern Bosnian town, joining another group of migrants and proceeding to the border. What they ask is being allowed to enter Croatia and then go further to their final destinations in the western Europe.
Early on Monday, a group of some 200 migrants left their improvised tent camp near Velika Kladusa, another town in this region, and headed towards the Maljevac border crossing with the same demands. They blocked one road lane and were eventually returned to their camp.
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According to Spokesperson Galic, a group of some 50 migrants have again left the Velika Kladusa camp and started moving towards the border. Bosnia’s Border Police and USC Interior Ministry have been informed about their movement, Galic said.
This northwestern Bosnian region has become a hotspot for migrants who had entered the country through its eastern borders in the attempt to reach the European Union, their final destination. Although it is hard to assess the exact number of migrants in the Una-Sana Canton, due to their constant movement, the local institutions claim there are more than 10,000 of them in this region.
The local population started organising peaceful gatherings, protesting the further influx of migrants and asking the state institutions to solve the issue. They stressed their safety was in a jeopardy owing to more frequent incidents amongst the migrants and burglaries involving them.
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