Victims of a border row

When the diesel engines fall silent, only the muffled crying of two children penetrates the window panes of the bus. The atmosphere at the border between Hungary and Croatia is one of eerie silence.

Around 20 buses containing Middle Eastern migrants have arrived from the detention center in the Croatian town of Opatowac. When the doors open, a Hungarian border guard wearing a face mask yells: "Line up in rows of two!"

Reluctantly, the first 50 of around 1,000 migrants leave the bus, exposing themselves to the noonday heat. What they're seeing bears resemblance to a military fortress: Armored vehicles, machine guns and a lonely medical services tent containing toilet facilities. That's how Hungary greets migrants at its border crossing in Beremend.

No papers, no trust

The procedure that now begins is thoroughgoing and demeaning. Every busload of migrants is searched by dozens of border guards. Every bag, every backpack has to be emptied. Time and again, people collapse due to exhaustion and have to be revived by paramedics.

On the Hungarian side, more buses are already waiting. That migrants are once again allowed to enter Hungary after all came as a surprise to many. They had only taken the detour through Croatia because Hungary sealed off its border with Serbia almost a week ago.

A minefield

"We started in Lebanon, crossed the Mediterranean and arrived in Turkey. We crossed the sea again, arrived in Greece, then entered Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia," relates a young Syrian who travels with a group of students.

Most recently, landmines in the Croatian-Serbian border area, leftovers from the Yugoslavian war in the 1990s, had been their biggest worry. The group had therefore entered Croatia via its green border during the daytime, to be able to see the warning signs, he said.

But he didn't have any choice - his parents had worked for the Assad regime: "If we don't join the army, we would be recruited by Islamic State or the Syrian Liberation Army. But we don't want war. We simply want to study."

Unprepared for visitors

The group of 4,000 migrants had to stay for more than two days in Croatia's only refugee camp in Opatovac. Outside, there were enormous queues and ever more migrants kept emerging from the surrounding cornfields.

Last week alone, 50,000 entered Croatia from Serbia. The country has been completely overwhelmed by the influx.

Hungary seals itself off

The border crossing at Beremend has become a bottleneck, since only a small number of people are now entering Hungary via the green border. A few hundred meters from the crossing, a squad of Hungarian soldiers - equipped with heavy machinery - is busy driving piles into the ground.

The country is working feverishly to seal its 329-kilometer border with Croatia. The fence is expected to be complete by the weekend. Beremend Mayor Ferenc Theisz is grateful to the soldiers: "Because the border with Serbia in Roszke is now sealed, the migrants are avoiding this route and I hope that once the fence is built here, they will also avoid Beremend."

Power games

When asked why Hungary has not already let the migrants enter Serbia, he was evasive.

A young Hungarian woman waiting at the border had an explanation. She says she is certain domestic politics is behind the treatment of the migrants. Hungary and Serbia have conservative nationalist governments, while left-wingers are in power in Croatia.

"With the decision to direct the flow of refugees across Croatia, Hungary hopes to trigger a political crisis in the neighboring country," she said.

Night has fallen at the Beremend border crossing. The first bus convoy is on the move, accompanied by armored military vehicles, after more than a six-hour wait.

The buses are headed for the railway station across the border in the Hungarian village of Magyarboly. From here trains will bring people to the Austrian border and their dream destination of Western Europe.