Migrants disappear from new Hungarian camp near Austrian border

Record ID: 102749

  • Title: Migrants disappear from new Hungarian camp near Austrian border
  • Date: 18th May 2016
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (MAY 18, 2016) (REUTERS) CITY VIEW DANUBE AND CITY VIEW EXTERIOR OF PARLIAMENT HUNGARIAN FLAGS ON PARLIAMENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ZOLTAN KOVACS SAYING: "These temporary shelters cannot be closed, it would be against EU protocols. Accordingly illegal migrants who applied for asylum are basically free to leave the camp and move within the country at their will. It is very unfortunate and that was our experience last year and the years before, that migrants basically misuse the system and as soon as possible they usually try to move to the western part of Europe." BILLBOARD OF ANTI-QUOTA REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN READING: "We send a message to Brussels so that they understand." PEOPLE WALKING PAST BILLBOARD
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2016 16:20
  • Keywords: EU migrant crisis Orban
  • Location: KORMEND, SOPRON, BUDAPEST, HEGYESHALOM, HUNGARY
  • City: KORMEND, SOPRON, BUDAPEST, HEGYESHALOM, HUNGARY
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0044IC5ZQX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Sahed from Afghanistan is waiting in a camp in Hungary to continue his westwards journey. He will take a train to Budapest and then a "taxi" to Germany, which he says will cost him about 300 euros.
    The 18-year-old said he paid a driver in Belgrade to take him to Hungary's border with Serbia, where he crossed into Hungary at night and was stopped by police.
    "I go to Germany, my brothers are in Germany," Sahed said.
    Many migrants who choose the route via Hungary despite the fence built by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, submit an asylum request and end up in a camp, one of which operates in Kormend, a town just 2 kilometres from the Austrian border. Those who are caught damaging the fence, are taken to court.
    The camp in Kormend is an open-gate centre which migrants can leave freely at their will.
    Hungary's immigration office said that until May 16 so far this year they registered 15,355 asylum applications, and 221 people had been granted some kind of international protection.
    Most asylum requests, however, are terminated as migrants "leave for an unknown destination," the office said, adding that from those placed in Kormend, so far 74 migrants left that way. The office said there were 165 people in the camp now.
    This shows the fence on Hungary's borders with Serbia and Croatia reduced the number of migrants crossing into Hungary, but the route is still used and smugglers are still operating.
    Tamhid, an accountant from the Afghan city of Herat, said he was on his way to Switzerland, where his brother lives. He also plans to take a train via Austria.
    "I want to go to (an)other country because Hungary is not good for immigration," he said.
    A third migrant from Afghanistan, Niaze, who spoke via a translator, said he came via Bulgaria and Serbia to the Hungarian border, where an "agent" cut the fence for him.
    He has no money for a "taxi", so he will walk to Austria, he said. His destination is Belgium.
    "These temporary shelters cannot be closed, it would be against EU protocols," Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said.
    Austria was carrying out border controls at crossings in Burgenland and the Austrian army also conducted border patrols. Border controls have been in place since April 25, and 1,124 people have been stopped, among them 20 human traffickers.
    Orban has boosted his public support with a tough stance on migration. His right-wing government opposes a plan, agreed by a majority of EU governments in September, to redistribute 160,000 migrants around the bloc.
    Hungary will also hold a referendum in September or early October on whether to accept any future European Union quota system for resettling migrants.
    In the past week, the government has started a nation-wide campaign with billboards reading "We send a message to Brussels."
    Even though critics say there is little chance for the referendum to be valid, as more than half of Hungary's eligible 8 million voters need to turn out for it, the vote allows the government to keep the migration issue on the political agenda.
    Antal Nagy, 60, in Kormend said he was against the camp for migrants and will definitely go to vote.
    "We have enough problems anyway. I think Merkel should put them up and feed them," he said.
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