BREZICE, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia accused Croatia on Tuesday of sending thousands of migrants toward its borders "without control," ignoring requests to contain the surge.
While Slovenia has said it can handle only 2,500 migrants a day, Slovenia's police said that some 8,300 migrants seeking to head toward Western Europe were currently in reception centers in the small country, with thousands more arriving.
Police in riot gear surrounded hundreds of migrants in a muddy field near the border village of Rigonce, from where they were to be escorted on foot to an already overcrowded reception center some 15 kilometers (9 miles) away.
"The pressure of immigrants arriving from Croatia is intensifying," the Slovenian government said in a statement. "They send immigrants toward Slovenia without control, deliberately dispersed."
Croatia did not seem ready to slow the flow. On Tuesday morning, a train carrying more than 1,000 migrants from the town of Tovarnik and some 20 buses full of migrants from the Opatovac refugee camp were headed toward the Slovenian border.
Slovenia's parliament is expected to decide later Tuesday on a government proposal to allow the army to assist police with border control.
Slovenian authorities say 6,000 migrants arrived on Monday and at least 4,000 more, including many babies and young children, had entered the country early Tuesday.
Slovenia has been confronted by the surge since Hungary closed its border with Croatia to the free flow of migrants on Saturday, forcing migrants to find new routes to Austria, Germany and other favored destinations in the European Union.
Not a single migrant has entered Hungary from Croatia since the border was closed with a fence protected by razor wire, soldiers and police patrols.
Associated Press reporters Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, Jovana Gec in Berkasovo, Serbia, and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.
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