Bosnian Authorities Launches Tougher Crackdown on Migrants

SARAJEVO, KOMPAS.com - Bosnian authorities launched a widespread migrant crackdown in an attempt to prevent more Europe-bound newcomers from arriving.

Thousands of migrants have been stranded in the area prior to the crackdown and Bosnia has also set up police roadblocks to stop more migrants from crossing.

Authorities in the country’s Krajina region, bordering EU member Croatia, dispatched special police forces Wednesday to an UN-run migrant camp to calm a protest by 1,000 migrants.

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The migrants in the camp near the town of Bihac are accusing Bosnian police of beating a homeless migrant.

The staff of the International Organization for Migration, which is running all seven migrant camps in Bosnia, withdrew from the tent camp of Lipa before special police arrived.

Officers fired several warning shots into the air to quell unrest by stone-throwing migrants.

Meanwhile, in two other migrant camps in Bihac, each housing over 1,000 single men, eight migrants tested positive for coronavirus this week — the first time that infections were found in the IOM-registered facilities in Bosnia.

Those migrants, all with mild cases, were transferred to Bihac's public hospital, a move that upset residents. Public anger grew further after authorities announced that two of them had escaped from isolation and fled.

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