Hungary shut down its frontier with Croatia with a metal fence and razor-wire. Government officials say they can only allow 2,500 people to enter each day and won’t accept new arrivals until the previous ones leave.
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“Hungary is determined to defend, by all means, its own and Europe’s borders”, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told reporters Saturday in Nagykanizsa, western Hungary.
Young boy looks through bars as group of migrants waits to be registered after they arrive from Croatia in Sredisce ob Dravi, Slovenia, Sunday, October 18, 2015.
“This part of the trip has lasted 20 hours, and we’ve been here for nearly 12 hours”, said Khair, 40, a former sales manager from the Syrian capital, Damascus.
“Hungary shall be protected” proclaims a sign at the town of Letenye on the Hungarian border with Croatia. Most may have their asylum requests rejected after Hungary tightened legal barriers to those arriving from countries deemed safe. “If destination countries begin adopting stricter measures at the border, Slovenia will follow suit”.
Hungary will close its border with Slovenia after barring its three major crossing points on its Croatian border, ending the possibility for refugees to use these transit routes westwards further into the EU.
Later on Saturday, a special train with about 1,200 migrants on board arrived at the Sredisce ob Dravi crossing, guarded by more than 100 policemen, said an AFP correspondent at the scene.
Szijjarto expounded that the Schengen rules “had been put in place jointly and had to be mutually adhered to”, indirectly arguing that Slovenia did not have the right to ship refugees entering its borders through to Hungary.
Migrants are now using a Slovenian route to reach Germany and Austria.
Slovenia has stated it will continue taking refugees as long as Austria and Germany keep their borders open. Slovenia’s Prime Minister Miro Cerar says the country’s army will also be deployed.
Many have spent weeks trekking up through Greece and Macedonia before crossing Serbia to reach the Croatian border.
More than 300,000 people have entered Hungary this year and it said it has taken unilateral action because of the failure of the European Union to create a common border force.
The European Union has agreed a plan, resisted by Hungary and several other ex-Communist members of the bloc, to share out 120,000 refugees among its members.
The soldiers won’t have authority over the refugees, and will only offer police officers logistical support, authorities said.
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Baloch warns “there will be challenges if the process becomes slow or we have a backlog of people”. More are expected to arrive during the day.
