By: Sara Kovač / Nova24tv
“Last week, I woke up in the morning and there were at least twenty of them in front of my house,” told us a resident of Rakitovec, who, like his fellow villagers, has been facing the mass arrival of migrants daily for some time now. When the migrants appear practically on the doorstep of the local residents, it takes some time for the police to come and collect them, although they are trying to do their job, but there are actually not enough of them for such a large number of migrants. There are so many of them that they have to be taken on buses. Everyday. According to the villagers who report their arrivals to the police, the migrants come from everywhere, from India, Nepal, Pakistan, and last month there were many from Africa as well. Apparently, the good word reaches the ninth village, and they already know everywhere that Slovenia is a kind of paradise for migrants – if they do not happen to know this before, they educate them about it in Croatia.
The editors have received several messages from concerned residents of Rakitovec and its surroundings – this is a settlement in Slovenian Istria, which administratively belongs to the Municipality of Koper and lies in the immediate vicinity of the border with Croatia. The villagers (names are kept in the editorial office) have already contacted several media outlets, but according to them, no one wants or dares to report on this topic. Namely, these are migrants who have been coming across the border to our country on a daily basis for some time in large groups. One of the villagers said that, among other things, he also called the journalist Eugenija Carl, who allegedly told him that “they do not have permission to report on this topic and that she can lose her job” – we addressed questions to RTVS. Residents say they are ready to go in front of the cameras.
Migrants in large groups come across the border several times a day – usually mostly at night, but recently also during the day. Witnesses say that migrants come through forest paths and cross the green border, and some even claim that they also cross smaller border crossings. “They do not even hide anymore,” a worried villager told us, explaining that before crossing migrants move freely in Croatia. They are said to have an agreement with the Croats that they must move on within seven days, otherwise they will be returned to the country from which they got them – for example, to Bosnia. When they arrive in Slovenia, they are picked up by buses in several places, which take them first to Koper for “processing”, and then on to Ilirska Bistrica, Logatec, or wherever – according to some data, they already have full capacities everywhere. “We have so many that I have nowhere else to put them,” a policeman admitted to a villager.
Some villagers are also convinced that the government of the Republic of Slovenia organises the arrival of migrants in large numbers, as it seems impossible for them to arrive in such large numbers every day. Most of the migrants also have a lot of luggage, they are nicely dressed – and they are not muddy, as if they were smuggled across the border through the forest. “Young, well-dressed boys are coming,” said a villager, who asserted that a group from Serbia arrived today and that they were accompanied by the police from the border crossing onwards. “At the Koper municipality, we are aware of the problem, which is why the mayor called a meeting next week with the presidents of local communities from the busiest migration route, representatives of civil protection and JP Marjetica Koper, as well as Koper Police Station Chief Ensad Nadarević and State Border and Aliens Inspector Viljem Toškan,” we received an answer from the office of the mayor of the municipality of Koper, and we are still waiting for the other answers.