EUROPE-MIGRANTS/HUNGARY-SYRIANS DETAINED Syrians detained after breaching Hungarian border
Record ID:
141072
EUROPE-MIGRANTS/HUNGARY-SYRIANS DETAINED Syrians detained after breaching Hungarian border
- Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/HUNGARY-SYRIANS DETAINED Syrians detained after breaching Hungarian border
- Date: 15th September 2015
- Summary: ASSOTHALOM, HUNGARY (30 KILOMETRES WEST OF ROSZKE) (SEPTEMBER 15, 2015) (REUTERS) SYRIAN REFUGEES WHO CROSSED THROUGH HUNGARIAN BORDER FENCE, SEATED/POLICE NEARBY VARIOUS OF REFUGEES SEATED NEAR BORDER FENCE SOLDIER LOOKING SOLDIER WATCHING REFUGEES REFUGEES LYING ON GROUND NEAR FENCE POLICE AND SOLDIER STANDING REFUGEE BOY/ REFUGEES NEAR FENCE POLICE VAN ARRIVING VARIOUS OF REFUGEES INSIDE VAN MORE REFUGEES GATHERING BELONGINGS POLICE AND REFUGEES NEAR FENCE POLICE VAN APPROACHING VARIOUS OF REFUGEES GETTING INTO VAN POLICE CLOSING VAN DOOR POLICE STANDING NEAR VAN TWO POLICE VANS DRIVING AWAY REFUGEES GETTING OUT OF VAN VARIOUS OF REFUGEES BEING TRANSFERRED TO LARGER POLICE VEHICLE POLICE VAN DRIVING AWAY VARIOUS OF LARGER POLICE VEHICLE DRIVING AWAY
- Embargoed: 30th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Hungary
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA1OJEQWO76ARKCT5H6PEIUKH63
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hungarian authorities detained a group of Syrian refugees on Tuesday (September 15) after the group breached the country's border fence.
Hungary has been building a 175-km (110-mile) razor wire fence on the Serbian boundary, across the main land route for migrants into the European Union.
Police have so far arrested 174 people for breaching the fence, saying they would face criminal prosecution.
The group of Syrians said they had been walking for two days on the Serbian side of the border. They found a hole in the fence and cut through to Assothalom in Hungary, where they were detained. The group were taken away in police vans, before being transferred to a larger police vehicle which was transferring them to a processing centre.
Authorities said 48 asylum claims had been submitted since its new regime came into place overnight. Sixteen of the claims had been ruled upon and all rejected within a matter of hours, a pace critics said raised doubt over the fairness of the process.
They did not give a breakdown by nationality but an official with the United Nations refugee agency said he saw several Syrians rejected. One human rights worker said several Syrian and Afghan families were directed to a reception centre inside Hungary while their claims were processed.
The Hungarian frontier with Serbia has been the main land route for migrants to reach the European Union's border-free Schengen zone.
Hungary says that by reinforcing the frontier it is simply enforcing EU rules, and that it is not required to accept refugees who have already reached Serbia, a country it has designated as safe.
The United Nations disputes that designation, saying Serbia does not have the capacity to house thousands of refugees turned back at the EU's gates.
At least 200,000 migrants have crossed Hungary so far this year, streaming north through the Balkan peninsula having hit Greek shores by boat and dinghy from Turkey.
More than 9,000 entered on Monday (September 14), a record for the year, and the flow continued unabated over Greece's northern border into Macedonia on Tuesday, threatening to create a dangerous bottleneck in the impoverished and volatile Balkans.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Europe's most vociferous opponents of immigration, has vowed to stop the flow. His government on Tuesday declared a "state of crisis" in two southern border counties, making it easier to mobilise resources. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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