More than 4,000 refugees and migrants are currently staying in asylum centers in Serbia, an official of the Serbian Refugee Commissariat told N1 on Friday.

Commissariat official Svetlana Palic said that at present there are 4,400 people housed in refugee and asylum centers which can take in up to 6,000 people, adding that preparations have been made to get them through the winter.

“Migrants are accepted in Serbia since we have become sensitive to them because of the refugees in the 1990s and people here do not have a negative attitude in general which does not mean that there is no xenophobia,” she said and warned of false reports of migrants committing crimes.

She said that most of the refugees are from Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan and added that they are not seeking asylum to stay in Serbia but want to continue their journey to Germany, France or Italy.