Croatian authorities are denying a report by an international watchdog group that the country’s police are illegally and sometimes violently pushing migrants back into neighboring Bosnia, VOA reports.
Croatian Interior Ministry denied wrongdoing Sunday, responding to a video published by the Border Violence Monitoring group, BMV.
The video shows armed Croatian police officers shouting orders at a group of migrants and escorting them out of a forest. The BMV said it was just some of the footage recorded by hidden cameras along Croatian border with Bosnia, which it received from people who “prefer to remain anonymous for security reasons.”
Croatia’s Interior Ministry said the video was filmed “right at the border” with Bosnia where there are no official crossing points. It said officers were not expelling migrants but legally “deterring” them from illegally entering Croatia.