UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that Hungary’s decision to finally block the hole in its Serbian border actually means that Serbia will need “immediate” help to cope with the pouring of migrants after Hungary has closed its doors.
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Along Serbia’s border with Hungary, where hundreds of migrants are now stranded after Hungary abruptly sealed its borders this week, police officers in riot gear are reportedly using tear gas and water cannons as crowd control tactics.
De Maiziere said an agreement was still some way off.
Europe’s migrant crisis took another ugly turn today when Hungarian riot police used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons to beat back hundreds of people massed at the border with Serbia after some broke through a gate. Hungary declared a state of emergency after police said some migrants started throwing things at them.
Alert to the possibility, Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said on Tuesday that Zagreb had prepared an “emergency plan in the case of an influx of thousands of refugees“, but did not give details.
Thousands of migrants banged on the fence, with exhausted voices shouting “Open, open”, as children looked into Hungary through the cracks, some asking when the border will be opened again. “We Hungarians don’t want the global-sized movement of people to change Hungary”, Orban said this week, explaining that his country needs to preserve its heritage.
In the past few months, Hungary has become a main entry point into the European Union for migrants, many of them war refugees from Syria and Iraq, with more than 200,000 entering the country so far this year.
Another group of migrants blocked the main highway connecting Serbia and Hungary, saying they were refusing food and water until they are allowed to cross into Hungary.
On Monday night more than 8,000 people were camped out in the border town of Nickelsdorf, hoping to continue their journey on to Vienna. They apply to the border with Hungary but could be extended.
The migrant crisis that has rattled Europe and fractured its already shaky unity – producing heart-rending images of squalor, death and the joyful celebration of those who made it through – has now found fresh focus on this flat, forested border at the edge of the European Union.
At Merkel’s side, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said that “no one who is in search of protection should lose their lives”, and warned of a “humanitarian crisis” if there is not quick and decisive action.
Zakariah Sharfo, a mechanic from the Syrian city of Aleppo, said he couldn’t understand the new hard-line Hungarian laws.
“Those who leave their country are fleeing because of the pressures of war”, he said. “No one would leave their country without a good reason”.
Migrants hold onto a barrier at the border with Hungary near the village of Horgos, Serbia, September 15, 2015. Nearly all, however, are on their way to Germany or other wealthy Western European nations.
Croatian authorities said they had apprehended 373 foreign nationals, including 75 women and 73 children, for illegally crossing the country’s eastern border Wednesday.
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Frontex, the European agency for the co-ordination of operations at the EU’s external borders, said Tuesday that 156,000 migrants crossed the bloc’s borders in August, marking the fifth consecutive monthly record.
