EUROPE: MIGRANTS/HUNGARY STATION UPDATE Stranded migrants angered by Hungary's refusal to let them leave for Germany

Record ID: 140532

  • Title: EUROPE: MIGRANTS/HUNGARY STATION UPDATE Stranded migrants angered by Hungary's refusal to let them leave for Germany
  • Date: 1st September 2015
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (SEPTEMBER 1, 2015) (REUTERS) POLICE CORDONING OFF MIGRANTS GATHERED OUTSIDE EASTERN RAILWAY TERMINUS STATION TWO MIGRANTS HOLDING UP SIGN "WE WANT TO GO TO GERMANY PLEASE HELP US 1-9-2015" AND "PLEASE OPEN THE STATION" AND CROWD CHANTING "GERMANY! GERMANY!" VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS OUTSIDE STATION/ POLICE WATCHING OVER THEM MIGRANT WITH BOOK ON TOP OF HIS HEAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED SYRIAN REFUGEE, SAYING: "Our request are very very simple - just we need release. Just to pass Hungaria. We need nothing from the Hungarian government. What does she want from us?" CHILD HOLDING UP SIGN, SEATED ON MAN'S SHOULDER MORE OF MIGRANTS SEATED OUTSIDE STATION TWO BOYS ON A WINDOW LEDGE MORE OF MIGRANTS OUTSIDE STATION MIGRANTS SLEEPING HUNGARIAN POLICE POLICE GUARDING ENTRANCE OF STATION
  • Embargoed: 16th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE226B0E55FSQP7M50KSSRMX92
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of angry migrants demonstrated outside Budapest's Eastern Railway Terminus on Tuesday (September 1) demanding they be allowed to travel on to Germany, as European Union asylum rules came close to collapse under the strain of unprecedented migration.
    Around 1,000 people waved tickets, clapping, booing and hissing, and shouting "Germany! Germany!" outside the station. Later they sat down, staring at a police blockade erected at the entrance.
    Hungarian authorities closed the train station altogether, then reopened it but barred entry to the migrants. About 100 police in helmets and wielding batons guarded the station. Dozens of migrants who were inside were forced out.
    "Our request are very very simple - just we need release. Just to pass Hungaria. We need nothing from the Hungarian government. What does she want from us," said one Syrian refugee in broken English.
    The decision to bar the migrants from westbound trains was a reversal from the previous day, when Hungary and Austria let trainloads of undocumented migrants leave for Germany, a violation of EU rules they now have little power to enforce.
    The arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants has confounded Europe, which has eliminated border controls for travel between 26 countries of its Schengen area but requires those seeking asylum to remain in the country where they first arrive until their applications are processed.
    The vast majority of refugees fleeing violence and other migrants escaping poverty first arrive on Europe's southern and eastern edges but are determined to press on and seek asylum in richer and more generous countries further north and west.
    Hungary is on a major overland transit route from the Middle East and Africa through Greece and the Balkans to Germany. More than 140,000 people have crossed into Hungary from Serbia this year alone.
    European leaders want the EU to do more to organise the unprecedented influx, help separate those deserving asylum from those who can be safely sent home and share the burden of accepting them across the 28-nation bloc.
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said refugees with valid asylum claims should be distributed among EU countries according to their capacity to host them.
    For now, however, there is no mechanism in place to distribute refugees or to enforce the so-called "Dublin rules", which require asylum seekers to apply in the first EU country where they arrive.
    Berlin said the Dublin rules must still be enforced.
    German Labour Minister Andrea Nahles said the influx of refugees and migrants would mean an additional 240,000-460,000 people would be entitled to German social benefits next year, costing the government 3.3 billion euros ($3.7 billion).
    For Hungary, the main entry point for those arriving in the EU over land across the Balkans, the crisis has prompted the government to reinforce the border with a razor wire fence and deploy thousands of extra police.
    The crisis has polarised Europe, which, on the one hand, is committed to the principle of providing refuge for those in danger, but on the other hand has a growing sector of public opinion that believes too much immigration drives down wages and dilutes national cultures.
    Thousands of migrants have drowned this year attempting to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea in rickety vessels, while the perils of the overland part of the journey were hammered home when 71 people were found dead in an abandoned truck in Austria last week.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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