The Latest: EU to hold emergency migration summit Wednesday

TOVARNIK, Croatia (AP) — The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET):

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3:25 p.m.

European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels next Wednesday to try to overcome differences about how to manage Europe's biggest refugee emergency in decades.

European Council President Donald Tusk announced Thursday via Twitter that he would convene a summit on September 23 "to discuss how to deal with the refugee crisis."

EU interior ministers meet in Brussels on the eve of the summit to try to finalize a plan to share out 120,000 refugees amid strong opposition from a group of Eastern European states.

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2:45 p.m.

Romania's president has conceded that the country may take in more asylum seekers than it initially offered, under pressure from the European Union.

President Klaus Iohannis said the topic was discussed Thursday at the meeting of the country's top defense council.

"This is a scenario that we don't want, it's a scenario which I don't think helps solve the problem of refugees, but it is a scenario which is theoretically possible," he said.

"If this happens, we have to do something. ... We discussed the idea of using European funds to extend the facilities for receiving refugees."

Romania has agreed to take in 1,785 asylum-seekers in six centers, but said it is unable to absorb the 6,351 the European Commission wants it to take.

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2:35 p.m.

More than 800 Syrians and others were cleared out of makeshift camps in Paris on Thursday and bused to special centers as France steps up its efforts to deal with Europe's migrant surge.

Police stood watch as workers and charity groups woke the migrants before dawn at two camps, one along the Seine River near the Gare d'Austerlitz train station in southeast Paris, the other in northern Paris near the Montmartre neighborhood.

The migrants, mostly young men but also a few families with children, gathered their belongings and boarded buses to special migrant housing centers in Paris and the surrounding region, where they will be offered help applying for asylum. Many had been living in the streets of the French capital for months.

The action was unusually calm and orderly. Volunteers handed out water and food, and authorities passed out documents in French, English and Arabic explaining what was happening.

France has been criticized for its relatively slow response to the migrant crisis, and for leaving many to live in the streets in Paris, Calais and other cities even as neighboring Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands of people.

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2:10 p.m.

Romania has protested a decision by Hungary to build a 70-kilometer (43.5-mile) fence along their shared border to deter migrants.

A government statement Thursday said the fence plan "did not conform to European Union norms" after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto gave details of its length. Hungary has already built a razor-wire fence with Serbia and has suggested it may do the same with neighboring Croatia.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry has called in Hungary's ambassador to Romania, Botond Zakonyi, to protest the planned fence and comments by Hungarian officials about migrants, calling them "totally unjustified" Thursday.

The countries share a 448-kilometer (278-mile) long border.

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2 p.m.

Austria and Slovenia have called for an urgent all-EU response to the migrant crisis as the two countries braced for a wave of thousands of refugees from Croatia.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann says after talks Thursday with Slovenia's Prime Minister Miro Cerar that "we are being put to test." The comments were carried by Slovenia's official STA news agency.

Faymann says "this time we must prove we don't want a Europe in which everyone will try to shift their problems to others' shoulders."

Cerar insisted that Slovenia will protect the EU visa-free zone, but did not specify what measures his country would take. He says "we are bound by the rules, which we intend to abide by consistently."

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1:45 p.m.

A German hospital has seen a spate of Syrian refugees poisoned after eating mushrooms that apparently resemble edible fungi in their homeland.

The Hannover Medical School said it has seen around 35 cases in recent days of people — mostly refugees from Syria — who had eaten the death cap mushroom. Those with the most severe symptoms were taken to a specialized clinic.

It says the mushroom is one of the most poisonous in Germany. It can cause vomiting and diarrhea and, in the most serious cases, life-threatening liver damage.

The hospital has designed a poster warning about the mushrooms in several languages, including Arabic and Kurdish.

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1:20 p.m.

Germany's vice chancellor is making a new appeal to other European countries to help shoulder the burden of the influx of migrants.

Germany has made little progress so far in persuading many countries in the European Union to agree to a mandatory redistribution of refugees. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in a video message Thursday that Europe needs to move: "Germany is helping. The question is, who is helping Germany?"

Gabriel said the impression has arisen that "Europe is something people join in with when there's money and where they hide in the bushes when they have to take responsibility." He added that "money cannot keep on flowing in Europe as it has so far if Germany, Austria and Sweden organize and finance taking in refugees alone."

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12:40 p.m.

More than 2,000 migrants have gathered at the train station in the eastern Croatian town of Tovarnik waiting to move after crossing in from Serbia hours ago.

Migrants are packed at the station in blazing sun and heat on Thursday waiting to board trains to the refugee centers in the capital Zagreb and elsewhere in Croatia.

Associated Press reporters at the scene say migrants have become restless, demanding to move on. Croatian authorities have been distributing food and water as they cope with the migrant wave entering the country over the Serbian border.

More than 6,000 people have entered the country in just one day, putting strain on the system. Migrants have turned to Croatia after Hungary used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas to keep them away from its territory.

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12:30 p.m.

Hungarian officials say the alleged leader of a riot by migrants at a closed border crossing with Serbia has been detained and is suspected of "terrorism."

Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said Thursday that the unidentified Syrian man was "one of the organizers who specifically directed the attacks" Wednesday afternoon when hundreds of migrants on the Serbian side tried to break through the border and threw rocks and other objects at Hungarian police.

The migrants were repelled with tear gas and water cannons and police used batons to drive back those trying to enter Hungary.

Police detained 22 people who managed to break through, including the man who Kovacs said was suspected of "carrying out of an act of terrorism."

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12:15 p.m.

The chief editor of one of Sweden's largest newspapers says one of its photographers was knocked to the ground by police using clubs and tear gas in Hungary while covering the huge number of people moving across Europe.

Thomas Mattsson, of tabloid Expressen, on Thursday told Hungary's ambassador to Sweden, Lilla Makkay, that what happened to photographer Meli Petersson Ellafi a day earlier was "unacceptable."

He said reporters covering war and disasters often are exposed to dangerous situations "but it must still be emphasized when police beat a photographer to the ground."

Hungary used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons to keep migrants out of its territory.

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12:05 p.m.

Croatia's government has formed a crisis body to deal with thousands of migrants pouring into the country from Serbia after Hungary sealed its border.

More than 5,000 people have entered the country in just one day, straining the authorities who scrambled to keep control over the situation.

Migrants can be seen crossing into the country through corn fields and along the roads, holding children and carrying their belongings. Local authorities in the town of Tovarnik, the main entry point, have appealed for government help, overwhelmed by the influx.

President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has called for stricter border control, saying "it was very bad that people are crossing in through corn fields." She says "too many refugees crossed without control on the first day."

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11:45 a.m.

Croatia's government has formed a crisis body to deal with the thousands of migrants pouring into the country from Serbia after Hungary sealed its border.

More than 6,000 people have entered the country in just one day, straining the authorities who scrambled to keep control over the situation.

Migrants can be seen crossing into the country through cornfields and along roads, holding children and carrying their belongings. Local authorities in the town of Tovarnik, the main entry point, have appealed for government help, overwhelmed by the influx.

President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has called for stricter border control, saying "it was very bad that people are crossing in through cornfields." She says "too many refugees crossed without control on the first day."

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11:40 a.m.

Upward of 500 migrants are waiting to cross into Germany from Austria, with police giving precedence to families with children and elderly people.

Hundreds of people were crammed Thursday on both sides of the bridge crossing the Saalach river that marks the border between the two countries.

Many had camped out on the Austrian side of the border overnight.

German authorities have insisted that the country's borders aren't closed, but they want to ensure an orderly entry of migrants that includes registering every new arrival

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11:35 a.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging auto industry managers to give refugees opportunities as her country faces the task of integrating a wave of newcomers.

Merkel said at the Frankfurt auto show Thursday that Germany should approach the task with optimism. She said: "My request to you here, in a successful sector of German industry, is wherever opportunities arise to approach people openly, give them chances."

German authorities expect at least 800,000 migrants to arrive this year, though it's unclear how many will be allowed to stay. Merkel reiterated: "We want to help those who need protection, but we must also say to those who are coming to us only for economic reasons that they must leave our country again so that we can help those who need protection."

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11:30 a.m.

Hungary's foreign minister says the European Union should take over the financing of refugee camps for Syrians in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq and, if necessary, support the construction of more camps there.

Peter Szijjarto said Thursday that "the interest of people fleeing war zones ... is to wait out the end of the war as close as possible to their homes." He said Hungary was willing to make a "massive contribution" to such efforts.

Szijjarto also reiterated Hungary's pledge to provide "police officers, soldiers and money" to help set up a joint EU force to block migrants from entering fellow EU member Greece, from where they often continue north toward richer EU countries like Germany.

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11:05 a.m.

European Union lawmakers have backed an EU plan to distribute 120,000 refugees among member countries in a fast-track measure aimed at relieving migration pressure on Greece, Italy and Hungary.

The move in the European Parliament on Thursday means that EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels next Tuesday will be able to approve the plan if they can overcome opposition from a group of Eastern European nations.

The refugee-sharing scheme drawn up by the EU's executive Commission was approved in an emergency vote by 372 ballots in favor, 124 against and 54 abstentions.

Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans thanked the parliament and said the refugee emergency challenges Europe "on a political level, on a humanitarian level and I would even say on a moral level."

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11 a.m.

The German government says the head of the country's immigration authority is stepping down for personal reasons, a move that comes as the country is struggling to cope with a flood of refugees and other migrants.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it had accepted the resignation of Manfred Schmidt, the head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. It gave no further details on Schmidt's decision.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere thanked Schmidt for his "extraordinary work" at an extremely difficult time. He did not immediately announce a replacement.

Germany says it is expecting some 800,000 migrants to arrive this year, with some estimates as high as 1 million — around five times last year's total.

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10:30 a.m.

The European Union's migration commissioner is urging Hungary to working with the bloc to alleviate the continent's migration crisis, and says that walls and violence are no solution.

Dimitris Avramopoulos also urged compassion for the migrants, noting that most of them are Syrians fleeing war.

He spoke in Budapest on Thursday, a day after baton-wielding Hungarian riot police used tear gas and water cannons on hundreds of migrants after a group pushed open a gate at the now-sealed border with Serbia.

Avramopoulos said "the majority of people arriving in Europe are Syrians. They are people in genuine need of our protections. There is no wall you would not climb, no sea you wouldn't cross if you are fleeing violence and terror. I believe we have a moral duty (to) offer them protection."

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10:15 a.m.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen says Denmark would on "a voluntary basis" be willing to take 1,000 refugees "in the light of the extraordinary situation" but won't take part in any mandatory European Union quota to relocate the tens of thousands of migrants pouring into Europe.

Loekke Rasmussen says the country "cannot open our borders to anyone and everyone. We would not be able to absorb it economically and culturally."

Along with Britain and Ireland, Denmark is not legally bound to take part in EU plans to spread refugees more evenly across the bloc.

Loekke Rasmussen told a news conference Thursday that later in the day he would meet with EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, adding "we are challenged, Europe is challenged, Denmark is challenged."

He added Denmark also has earmarked 750 million kroner ($113 million) over the next years to help refugees "in particular in the neighboring areas." He didn't specify where or how the money should be used.

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9:15 a.m.

Thousands of migrants are pouring into Croatia, setting up a new path toward Western Europe after Hungary used tear gas and water cannons to keep them out of its territory.

Croatian police said Thursday that some 5,650 migrants have come into the country since first groups started arriving early on Wednesday. Authorities have been using trains and buses to transfer them to refugee centers.

Croatian authorities say they are forming a special body to deal with the influx. Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic says that the country has the situation under control. But he warned that "if huge waves start coming through Serbia we must consider different moves."