Slovenia Buckles as Migrants Rush to Escape Winter, Border Closures

Kljuc Brdovecki , Croatia: Slovenia on Tuesday called in the army to help manage a surge of asylum seekers desperately trying to reach northern Europe ahead of winter, as the tiny EU state became the latest hotspot on the migrant trail.

"The last 24 hours have been the toughest and most demanding since the start of the crisis," the Slovenian government said, adding that parliament was set to vote on allowing soldiers to help border police in the crisis "under very specific circumstances".

Pressing the European Union for more solidarity, Ljubljana warned it was "delusional" to expect individual countries to tackle the bloc's greatest refugee crisis since 1945.

The crisis showed no sign of abating as Greece saw a clear "spike in arrivals" -- leaving 27,500 packed on the islands by Tuesday morning -- amid fears of worsening weather and closing borders, the UN said.

More than 600,000 migrants and refugees, mainly fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have braved the dangerous journey to Europe so far this year.

The trip which most have made on inflatable boats from Turkey to Greece has left over 3,000 dead or missing.

The goal for many is the EU's biggest economy Germany, which expects to take in up to a million refugees this year.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's open door policy has sparked a backlash at home, with 20,000 protesters massing in the city of Dresden on Monday evening to mark the anniversary of the anti-migrant PEGIDA movement.

Merkel supporters also turned out in force however, with counter-demonstrators almost matching the PEGIDA numbers.

'Open! Open!'

Tensions have built along the migrant trail after Hungary shut borders with Serbia and Croatia with a razor-wire fence -- pushing the flow westwards to Slovenia, which like Croatia has also limited arrivals.

Thousands of men, women and children have been left stranded in wet, freezing weather at Croatia's frontier with Serbia, after they travelled up through Greece and Macedonia.

Around 1,000 were waiting to cross into Croatia on Tuesday at the Berkasovo checkpoint after spending the night in the cold, an AFP correspondent said, adding that more buses with migrants kept arriving throughout the morning.

Dozens of tents have sprung up along the roadside, which turned into a mud field after hours of heavy rain.

Crowds chanted "Open! Open!" as security guards only allowed up to 50 people in every half hour.

"This is so cold. We couldn't sleep. I came 24 hours ago and spent night in a tent," Azme Solei from the war-ravaged Syrian city of Homs told AFP.

Solei said he had spent a year in a refugee camp in Turkey but decided to leave because of "unbearable" living conditions there.

"I would like to go to Norway as I heard they behave nice towards refugees there," he said.

Domino effect

More than 19,460 migrants have arrived in Slovenia since Saturday, when Hungary closed its border with Croatia, Ljubljana said on Tuesday.

The nation of two million people has repeatedly warned that the influx largely exceeded its daily quota.

"Slovenia calls on the European Union states and institutions to engage actively in dealing with this disproportionate weight for our state... European solidarity is being challenged," the government said.

With Slovenian President Borut Pahor due to meet top EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon, the European Commission said it had not received any requests for assistance from Slovenia in addition to the four million euros ($4.5 million) already granted this year.

"Of course we stand ready to support any member state that is... experiencing migratory pressures," said Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva.

Buckling under the strain, Slovenia called on the army to help manage the flow, Prime Minister Miro Cerar told journalists.

"This does not mean a state of emergency", he said.

The Slovenian government criticised Zagreb for lifting restrictions at the Serbian border on Monday night without warning and transporting thousands of migrants across the border on buses and trains.

Ljubljana also accused neighbouring Austria of capping its intake at 2,000 on Monday.

But Vienna said more than 4,280 people had entered from Slovenia on Monday, with a further 1,700 expected on Tuesday morning.

'Where hope is'

Hungary's sealing of the Croatian border coincided with the arrival of some 15,000 migrants in Macedonia from Greece, who then undertook the gruelling journey towards Slovenia.

A train carrying more than 1,000 people, including numerous women with children, pulled into Kljuc Brdovecki station close to Croatia's green frontier with Slovenia on Tuesday, an AFP correspondent said.

Croatian police directed the visibly exhausted travellers through cornfields to the border.

There, the migrants -- many covered in mud and with grey blankets draped around their shoulders -- would wait for Slovenian police to escort them across, while an army helicopter was circling over their heads.

Among the crowd was 35-year-old Taysiir Halaby who fled the Syrian city of Aleppo with his family two weeks ago.

Their aim was to make it to Germany, he told AFP.

"That's where hope is!" he said pointing with his arm to the west.