MP Miro Bulj of the opposition Bridge party on Tuesday called for the deployment of army troops along the state border because of frequent attacks by illegal migrants on local residents and robberies in border areas.

Speaking at a press conference in the Parliament building, Bulj said that armed groups of illegal migrants terrorised the population of the Gorski Kotar region, showing photographs according to which groups of between 50 and 100 migrants were passing freely through the Mrkopalj area.

“In Begovo Razdolje recently, migrants were caught stealing a vehicle, which they wrecked and threatened to use knives. People live and work in fear. The Croatian police obviously cannot control this on their own, so it is time the Croatian army got involved,” Bulj said, recalling that he had called for this course of action several times before.

“While the president of the republic and the prime minister were arguing about convening the National Security Council, illegal migrants attacked local population with a machete after being caught stealing. People are in fear, no one controls that area, and police don’t have enough personnel. Why is everyone keeping quiet about it?” Bulj said, adding that such behaviour was intolerable.

He said that the area around the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac, where illegal migrants were waiting to get across the border into Croatia, was a ticking time bomb.

“While Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is saying that the time of open borders for migrants is over, Slovenia has deployed its military along the border, and Croatia is keeping quiet. Why is Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic keeping quiet?” Bulj said.

Bulj said he would request an urgent meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs and National Security to discuss the problem of illegal migrants in Croatia “because they are doing great damage to people in Croatia, especially in Gorski Kotar and Dalmatinska Zagora.”