The Latest: Croatia refuses people rejected by Slovenia

Refugees and migrants arrive safely on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Turkey and Greece have agreed to cooperate to prevent the “human tragedy” suffered by thousands of migrants who risk lives crossing the Aegean Sea on their way to Europe. (Santi Palacios/Associated Press)
SKOPJE, Macedonia — The latest news as hundreds of thousands make their way across Europe in search of safety and a better life. All times local:

1:45 p.m.

Croatia’s interior minister says the country has refused to take back 162 people who were rejected by neighboring Slovenia as economic migrants.

Ranko Ostojic said Thursday Croatia also will no longer allow in migrants from war-free countries who wish to pass through on their way toward Western Europe. He says Croatia has informed Serbia and Macedonia down the so-called migrant route, that “it is now obvious they will not be able to pass.”

Ostojic also warned that all countries facing the migrant flow on their territories must coordinate their actions to avoid problems with the possible backlog of migrants stuck along the route.

Asylum-seekers have traveled from Turkey to Greece, then Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia before getting to Austria and Germany, where most wish to stay.

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12:55 p.m.

Slovenia has started returning people it considers to be economic migrants from its borders, triggering a chain reaction along the Balkan migrant route.

Slovenian police spokesman Drago Menegalia said Thursday that in recent days, “there is increased number of persons who were recognized as pure economic migrants” entering the small Alpine state from Croatia.

He says that “these foreigners do not apply for international protection,” according to EU laws.

Slovenian media say that some 70 migrants from Morocco and Ivory Coast have been turned back by the Slovenes in the past few days.

Slovenian officials have indicated that they will continue to allow the transit of refugees from war-ravaged countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq on their way to Austria and other richer EU states.

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12:15 p.m.

A Serbian government minister says only refugees fleeing war can now enter the country from Macedonia.

Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin on Thursday blamed EU-members Slovenia and Croatia for the ban, saying they have started turning back the so-called economic migrants.

The move could trigger huge border pileups of migrants along the Balkan corridor which has seen hundreds of thousands of people cross the territory as they head to rich EU states, mostly Germany.

Vulin says, “we have to protect our country and that is why we have applied reciprocal measures toward the people Slovenia and Croatia have no room for.”

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11:55 a.m.

The U.N. refugee agency says three Balkan countries have shut their borders for migrants from states that are not directly engulfed in wars.

UNHCR spokeswoman in Serbia Melita Sunjic said Thursday the border rebimes were changed overnight.

She says Macedonia is not allowing the entrance from Greece for people from Morocco, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Liberia, Congo and Pakistan.

On the Serbian border with Macedonia, she says the Serbs are allowing in only migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

On the Croatia-Serbia border, Croats are allowing in only from these three countries, plus Palestine.

She says Serbia has overnight turned back to Macedonia some 200 migrants, and Macedonia has not let them in.

Sunjic says, “so, they are stuck on no-men’s land.”

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11:20 a.m.

The United Nations refugee agency says Macedonia has begun allowing only people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to cross its southern border from Greece, while Greek authorities say migrants of other nationalities are gathering on the Greek side of the border and blocking the crossing completely.

Aleksandra Kraus, UNHCR spokeswoman in Macedonia, said Thursday that Macedonian authorities had begun allowing only people from war zones to enter the country because Serbian authorities had imposed the same criteria on those attempting to cross the Macedonian-Serbian border.

In the Greek border area of Idomeni, police said the border has essentially been shut to all since about 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) after a group of roughly 300 people, mostly from Iran, gathered at the crossing seeking also to be allowed through. A further 2,500 people are waiting in a camp set up nearby to provide shelter for those heading north through the Balkans.