Send in the tanks

A convoy of tanks and armoured personnel carriers, transporting several hundred soldiers, made its way towards Hungary’s southern border. 

Locals flocked into the streets to cheer on the military convoy as it made its journey to the frontier.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has ordered the advance of military operations, as Croatia continued to send bus-loads of migrants and refugees to its borders. 

Although they didn't stop at any border towns, the tanks patrolled the border in a show of force in response to the weekend's bitter disputes. 

At an immigration point linking the northeastern Croatian town of Baranjsko Petrovo Selo with Beremend in Hungary, 11 buses transported around 600 migrants towards the frontier between the two countries last night.

One bus after another would stop just metres from the border, allowing passengers to disembark before progressing on foot into Hungary.  

Those who arrived at the Hungarian border were met with tear gas and water cannon on Tuesday. 

In response, Croatia announced that it would offer asylum-seekers a clear route onto European soil, but soon found itself buckling under the pressure. 

Croatia said some of its border crossings still remain open but that it had been forced to close others because of the sheer volume of migrants.

It said the weight of numbers - particularly since Hungary sealed its border with Serbia - meant its only option was to allow the migrants to pass through, and called for a unified EU response.   

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said his country could take no more and would give them food, water and medical attention, before sending them on their often perilous journey to western and northern Europe.

Some 3,000 entered Hungary by bus and train on Friday, leading officials to accuse Croatia of committing 'a major violation of international law'.

More were expected today, as dozens of buses on the Hungarian side of the border lined up in the village of Beremend.

It is believed some of the military reservists called in will be asked to patrol Hungary's southern border fence with Serbia as the country's army is stretched to its limit.  

'We forced them, by sending people up there. And we'll keep doing it,' Croatia’s Prime Minister Milanovic told reporters in the northeastern town of Beli Manastir, from where many of the buses and several trains left on Friday for the short trip to Hungary. 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto branded Mr Milanovic ‘pathetic’, saying: ‘Instead of honestly making provision for the immigrants, it sent them straight to Hungary.

‘What kind of European solidarity is this?’ 

He said Hungary would speed up building the fence 'where necessary' along its Croatian border.  

Hungary has warned it might block Croatia's access to Europe's Schengen zone of passport-free travel.  

Hungary has said that it will enforce the same tough laws at the border with Croatia as those currently in place at the country’s Serbian border – where crossing the border is a criminal offence. 

The Hungarian government’s spokesman Zoltan Kovacs added that it was clear the Croatian system for handling migrants and refugees had ‘collapsed’.

'What we see today is a complete failure of the Croatian state to handle migration issues,' he said.

'What is more, we see intentional participation in human smuggling, taking these migrants to the Hungarian border.'

Hungary closed its border with Serbia after some 50,000 refugees and migrants crossed through the frontier in just one week.

But it faced international criticism for using what many branded as an inappropriate level of aggression in keeping refugees away from its borders.  

Meanwhile at the Croatian border, refugees turned on each other as frustrations at the migration crisis boiled over. 

More than 100 men clashed on the Croat-Hungarian border after Syrians fleeing the country's civil war accused migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan of exploiting their misery. 

They threw stones and fought in the Croatian town of Beli Manastir before police officers stormed in with batons. 

Elsewhere, more than 2,000 people were taken west to Croatia's border with Slovenia where riot police pepper-sprayed a group of 150 migrants in the early hours of Saturday morning. 

In the tiny border town of Tovarnik migrants claimed that police officers told them that for £20 they would be taken 200 miles west to the capital Zagreb so they could catch trains to more prosperous northern European nations. 

Instead, the coaches were escorted by police to a border crossing with Hungary, which reluctantly agreed to put them on buses to Austria. 

Dozens of migrants in Baranjsko Petrovo Selo on Friday night showed their printed bus tickets which clearly stated Zagreb as their destination.

'Why are we crossing into Hungary where they beat us?' demanded Ahmed Laham, 18, who was fleeing war-torn Aleppo in Syria, with his brother and sister. 

'They charged us €25 each to get to Zagreb. Now we are at Hungary. What is going on?'

Lwae Maajid, 35, from the Iraqi city of Ramadi, stepped off one of the buses with his wife and four young children and said: 'We want to get to Germany where I can get work and start a new life.' 

The overwhelming majority of those at the border claimed to be from Syria, including Mr Maajid. 

Another group of migrants, who minutes earlier told this newspaper they were from Pakistan and wanted to come to Britain, then claimed they were Syrian when challenged by police.  

As tension between Croatia and Hungary heightens, Austria also saw the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants and refugees today.

The busloads of people were initially sent into Hungary by Croatia, but Hungary then shipped them on to Austria.

(dailymail.co.uk)