Ever since Slovenia's government decided to put up a razor wire border fence alongside the Slovenian/Croatian border in early December, local population has been finding new, ingenious ways to protest against it.
First, some folks decorated the fence with Christmas ornaments in European Union colors, while others went the simpler route and simply removed parts of the fence. Now, a number of famous sportsmen, olympians and other citizens from both countries played a friendly game of volleyball over the fence.
While the short game, played near the Sveta Lucija - Brezovica border crossing on Saturday, wasn't meant to be very competitive, it did send a message to the Slovenian government: A fence is not the way.
"They shouldn't have done it. Especially now before the holidays, so that tourists can see it," Giovanni Cernogoraz, Croatians sports shooter and Olympic gold winner, told Croatian Television on Saturday.
While the protest was mostly peaceful, some of the protesters tried to destroy the fence with wire cutters, prompting the Slovenian police to react and try to arrest one protester. After a short scuffle, his friends managed to drag him away and the police gave up on the arrest.
Happening now at #Slovenia and #Croatia border - protesting newly installed barbed wire fence. pic.twitter.com/p2VRvgc72m— Alex Poucher (@alexpoucher) December 19, 2015
Merry Christmas to sick Slovenian politicians. Photo: RAZOR-wire fence beetwen #Slovenia & #Croatia #refugeeswelcome pic.twitter.com/hMNlw7cZnU— Branko Obradovic (@BeingBranKOd) December 15, 2015
Slovenian authorities said the fence was a necessary measure to curb down the influx of migrants, arriving to Europe from Syria, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries since September. Austria and Hungary have taken similar measures, while Croatia is one of the countries that did not raise a border fence, with top Croatian officials criticizing the Slovenian decision to do so on multiple occasions.
More than 500,000 migrants have passed through Croatia, some 315,000 of them entering Slovenia through that country. The total number of refugees who have entered Europe in 2015 is now around one million.