EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SERBIA CAMP Migrants in camp near Serbia-Hungary border aim to continue on to western Europe

Record ID: 140500

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SERBIA CAMP Migrants in camp near Serbia-Hungary border aim to continue on to western Europe
  • Date: 1st September 2015
  • Summary: KANJIZA, SERBIA (SEPTEMBER 1, 2015) (REUTERS) SMALL GROUP OF MIGRANTS WALKING THROUGH CAMP MAN CARRYING BABY ARRIVING AT CAMP VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ARRIVING AT CAMP MAN SITTING AND HOLDING MOBILE PHONE, LOOKING AT SCREEN AND CRYING VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS SLEEPING INSIDE TENT MIGRANT TYPING ON PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE, AHMED, SAYING: "We are going to Hungary now. They say people are treated badly there, people are being beaten and there are dogs. We have the issue of fingerprints now, they are gathering us here, and it's crowded, the police here will send us to the Hungarian police." WOMAN WITH CHILDREN SITTING IN SHADE IN FRONT OF TENT CLOTHES LEFT TO DRY ON TENT WINDOWS MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND NEXT TO TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE FROM DAMASCUS, ABDULLAH AL-FOUR, SAYING: "I'm going to Sweden, my wife and children have been there for nine months now, they went through Italy and were fingerprinted there, and now they have problems." MIGRANTS SLEEPING ON BENCHES AND TABLES INSIDE TENT GROUP OF MIGRANT MEN INSIDE TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE FROM DAMASCUS, ABDULLAH AL-FOUR, SAYING: "I will try to get to them [in Sweden], to see them and to take them to Germany with me because Germany is the only country which allows double fingerprinting." WOMAN HOLDING BABY AND TALKING ON MOBILE PHONE TWO MEN RESTING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE FROM IDLIB, SALEH HAZIR, SAYING: "I assume Germany could take in about 1-1.5 million Syrians, but only under the condition they get jobs, because we don't want to be a burden for the German society." VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WASHING THEMSELVES TWO GIRLS WASHING CLOTHES THREE YOUNG MEN LOOKING AT MOBILE PHONES, MIGRANTS WASHING THEMSELVES IN BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 16th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2YBFHZ666Q8ZUVQX91GPT53UE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Busloads of migrants and refugees, mostly Syrian, continued arriving at a temporary aid camp in northern Serbia on Tuesday (September 1) only a few kilometres from the Hungarian border.
    The camp, which currently houses some 500 migrants, received seven new busloads of people by Tuesday afternoon, all of them planning to take a quick rest before resuming their journey towards Hungary and from there to western European countries.
    They cross into Hungary on foot, following an abandoned railway track that cuts through the 4-metre fence erected by Hungarian authorities and leads straight to a holding centre on the Hungarian side of the border.
    But there is fear among migrants that registering for asylum in Hungary, which includes fingerprinting, would prevent them from travelling onwards to Germany and other, wealthier, countries.
    "We are going to Hungary now. They say people are treated badly there, people are being beaten and there are dogs. We have the issue of fingerprints now, they are gathering us here, and it's crowded, the police here will send us to the Hungarian police," one refugee from Syria, Ahmed, said.
    According to EU rules, migrants must stay in EU member countries where they first entered and sought asylum.
    "I'm going to Sweden, my wife and children have been there for nine months now, they went through Italy and were fingerprinted there, and now they have problems," a refugee from Damascus, Abdullah Al-Four, told Reuters.
    Germany unilaterally lifted the restriction last month and said it would accept migrants and allow them to seek asylum regardless of their point of entry into the EU.
    "I will try to get to them [in Sweden], to see them and to take them to Germany with me because Germany is the only country which allows double fingerprinting," Four added.
    German authorities said they expected up to 800,000 asylum requests in 2015, most of them by Syrians escaping the civil war.
    Many of them travel the so-called Balkan route through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary, where about 2,500 people pass every day on their way towards Germany and other western European countries.
    "I assume Germany could take in about 1-1.5 million Syrians, but only under the condition they get jobs, because we don't want to be a burden for the German society," a Syrian refugee from the town of Idlib, Saleh Hazir, said.
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday refugees should be distributed across the European Union according to member states' ability to receive them, as part of a strategy to cope with Europe's unprecedented migration crisis.
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