Setting up a new migrant centre near the northeastern town of Tuzla could lead to migrants attacking the local population and their property, Croat political representatives in the area said in a statement on Saturday.

The Chairman of Bosnia’s Council of Minister, Denis Zvizdic, said this week that authorities could soon set up migrant reception centres at two locations near Tuzla and Sarajevo for accommodating migrants for the winter.

The location that was announced in the area of Tuzla, Ljubace, is mostly populated by Croats.

“The Croat community is especially concerned about how to protect properties from possible break-ins and destruction by illegal migrants, as experience has shown that they enter properties where the owner is not present at a given moment,” the Croat lawmakers said, adding that the plan could produce “very dangerous consequences.”

They urged the state-level government to change the decision on the location and place the centres outside of populated areas.

“The countless attacks on private property in the past period is proof that migrant centres must be separated from populated areas according to clear rules for their functioning and limited movement for those whose identity we cannot know for certain,” they said.