EUROPE-MIGRANTS/ROSZKE FENCE Refugees walk through Hungary ahead of tougher immigration rules

Record ID: 141163

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/ROSZKE FENCE Refugees walk through Hungary ahead of tougher immigration rules
  • Date: 12th September 2015
  • Summary: ROSZKE, HUNGARY (SEPTEMBER 12, 2015) (REUTERS) REFUGEES WALKING ALONG RAILWAY TRACKS VARIOUS OF REFUGEES WALKING BEHIND BARBED WIRE FENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNNAMED REFUGEE, SAYING: "We have been hungry all day and it's miserable today. No I don't want to make fingerprint. How can we without fingerprint, how can we cross Hungary, without fingerprint?" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNNAMED REFUGEE, SAYING: "We are close to death and we are just asking the Hungarian government to open the way for us." REFUGEES WALKING BEHIND FENCE VARIOUS OF REFUGEES SITTING, STANDING, AMIDST PILES OF RUBBISH VARIOUS OF REFUGEES NEAR TENTS, PILES OF RUBBISH VARIOUS OF REFUGEES WALKING ALONG RAILWAY LINE, WATCHED BY HUNGARIAN TROOPS VARIOUS OF HUNGARIAN SECURITY BESIDE BARBED WIRE FENCE/ WATCHTOWER
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3D96GTZKIBWFXT2UW6D46F5HX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of refugees trudged along railway lines heading towards the Hungarian border point of Roszke on Saturday (September 12), many of them hungry and desperate to leave the country before new immigration rules are implemented next week.
    Hungary's right-wing leader is vowing to clamp down on illegal border crossings and said on Friday (September 11) that any "rebellious" migrants would be arrested, starting next week.
    Hungary says that as of Tuesday, authorities will receive and start processing asylum requests at the border and transport all those who apply by bus to camps elsewhere in the country. Those migrants who refuse to cooperate will be kept at the border, and those who cross the border illegally, trying to avoid police, face arrest and possible imprisonment.
    More than 170,000 migrants have crossed into Hungary from non-EU Serbia so far this year. Many try to avoid being registered in Hungary for fear of being stranded there or returned to the country later in their journey across Europe.
    "We have been hungry all day and it's miserable today. No I don't want to make fingerprint. How can we without fingerprint, how can we cross Hungary, without fingerprint?" said one refugee.
    Another said they just wanted to be allowed to pass on their way.
    "We are close to death and we are just asking the Hungarian government to open the way for us."
    Hungary is racing to construct a fence along its border with Serbia by early October to help stem the tide of migrants and refugees.
    The United Nations has called for the swift creation of large-scale reception centres in frontline states such as Hungary and Greece, and one U.N. agency warned that millions more refugees could arrive in Europe if Syria's civil war continues to rage.
    Many of the tens of thousands of refugees now trekking from Greece via the Balkans and Hungary towards western Europe are fleeing the Syrian war in search of sanctuary, above all in more welcoming and generous countries such as Germany and Sweden.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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