Dozens of entrepreneurs and businesspeople gathered in the central part of Bosnia’s north-western town of Velika Kladusa, demanding that the border crossing to Croatia near this town opens for traffic.
The Bosnia-Croatia border crossing was closed the last week after the migrants staying in a tent camp near this town reached the border and requested that the police of the two countries allow them to enter Croatia and go further to the western European countries.
The situation escalated after a brief clash of the migrants and police, which led to the border crossing point shutdown.
Representatives of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Velika Kladusa visited the migrants who refuse to leave the border area in the company of representatives of the International Organisation for Migrations (IOM) and offered them financial and other assistance in return for their leaving of the border crossing zone.
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According to Bosnia’s Border Police, the border could open for traffic since the migrants have been moved some 100 metres further from the crossing point but Croatian police keep the Maljevac border crossing closed.
The entrepreneurs and businessperson of the northwestern region who took to the streets on Sunday said they would suffer a damage as they were prevented from exporting their products to the European Union through this border crossing.
Bosnia has been struggling with the influx of migrants over the past months and finding a temporary shelter where the migrants would be accommodated during their stay in the country. A great majority of the migrants who entered Bosnia showed no intention to stay there but said their final destinations were in the western Europe countries.
According to estimates of the state institutions, the number of migrants who entered through Bosnia's eastern borders exceeded 10,000. After reaching the capital city of Sarajevo, they were heading to the west, the Una-Sana Canton (USC), hoping they would cross the European Union borders.
Last week Bosnian authorities ordered under the pressure of the local population that the migrants using the regular bus and train lines from Sarajevo are taken directly to one of the migrant centres.
