TOVARNIK, Croatia — Migrants desperate to find sanctuary in Europe climbed through windows and fought for space on trains headed north Sunday as border closures and plunging temperatures increased tensions among thousands in a desperate rush to keep moving.
Scuffles broke out in this Croatian border town when hundreds of people surged toward a train they hoped would take them to Austria. Police tried to hold back the crowd, but were overwhelmed as migrants tried to climb through the windows of the already packed carriages.
Hungary, which closed its border with Serbia on Sept. 15, erected another steel barrier at the Beremend border crossing from Croatia to try to slow the flow of migrants. But they kept coming.
The sense of desperation increased for migrants as days of intense heat gave way to rain.
“Unfortunately, we sleep here on the ground without anything. It was very cold,” said Muhammad Dakiri, a Syrian asylum seeker in Tovarnik. “Suddenly the weather has turned to cold and raining. We couldn’t sleep well because in an hour or half an hour we wake up because we’re feeling cold.”
Volunteers handed out tents and warm clothes to make people more comfortable. But migrants abandoned the supplies when word of the train spread through their makeshift encampment, leaving tents, rain slickers and food strewn across the town square.
Hungary’s decision to shut its border with Serbia set off a chain reaction in Croatia and Slovenia that has forced people fleeing violence in the Middle East, Asia and Africa to rush from one European border to the next as they desperately try to find a way north. Thousands more continue to brave the Mediterranean in rickety boats as they try to reach more welcoming countries like Germany and Sweden.
The surge of migrants continues to exact casualties. Two migrant vessels sank in the eastern Mediterranean on Sunday, killing 13 people. Authorities from Greece to Austria and are struggling to respond.
About 15,000 migrants crossed into Austria from Hungary and Croatia over the weekend.
In the Austrian border village of Nickelsdorf, people arrived by foot Sunday after a half-hour walk from the Hungarian town of Hegyeshalom. Then they lined up for buses to take them to shelters in Vienna and other parts of the country. Austrian soldiers stood alongside.
Austrian officials are scrambling to find places for the migrants to stay because many camps are already overcrowded.
One of those who made it to Nickelsdorf was Mahat, a 47-year-old lab technician from Syria who only wanted to give his first name because of political ramifications in Syria. He said he trekked through Croatia with about 5,000 others and he doesn’t care where he ends up as long as he can live in peace and find a job.
Mahat, who lived and worked in the United Arab Emirates for many years, returned to Syria when his father died three years ago and found himself in the middle of a civil war.
“I came to Syria to put my father in the ground. Then the government took my passport and they cut it. So three years, I was suffering inside,” he said. “When I got the chance I just ran away and came here.”
Croatia said some 27,000 migrants have entered the country since the surge started five days ago. The small country of 4.2 million is struggling to cope, and is demanding that the European Union offer a unified response when it meets later this week.
Meanwhile, leaders across the region are sniping at one another, underscoring the sense of disarray in the days before European leaders meet to discuss the crisis.
Hungary’s erection of razor-wire fences is straining relations with neighboring countries that feel the flow of migrants is being unfairly pushed onto them. After completing a fence along its border with Serbia, Hungary is now building fences on the Croatian and Romanian frontiers.
After lashing out at Croatian officials last week, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto is now trading barbs with his Romanian counterpart.
Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Saturday called Hungary’s decision to close the border an “autistic and unacceptable act” that violated the spirit of the European Union.
Szijjarto responded angrily on Sunday, saying “We would expect more modesty from a foreign minister whose prime minister is currently facing trial.” That was a reference to corruption charges filed recently against Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
“We are a state that is more than 1,000 years old that throughout its history has had to defend not only itself, but Europe as well many times,” Szijjarto added. “That’s the way it’s going to be now, whether the Romanian foreign minister likes it or not.”
The Hungarian Foreign Ministry has called in the Romanian ambassador for a consultation on Monday.
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