EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA-CONVOY Convoy of nearly 200 cars sets off from Austria to pick up migrants in Hungary

Record ID: 141721

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA-CONVOY Convoy of nearly 200 cars sets off from Austria to pick up migrants in Hungary
  • Date: 6th September 2015
  • Summary: AUSTRIAN SIDE OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY BORDER (SEPTEMBER 6, 2015) (REUTERS) DRIVERS IN CONVOY GATHERED WOMAN ON MEGAPHONE DRIVERS LOOKING AT MAP MAP (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERMAN MEMBER OF CONVOY, PHILIPP STENDEBACH, SAYING: "It's really important to give a sign to them that they are welcome and that they don't have to fear Europe, and that especially Germany is a warm country for them, and that they don't have to fear and that they are safe and that they just don't have to sleep other days and nights on the street because it's such a horrible thing." CAR HORNS BEEPING SIGN IN WINDOW OF STENDEBACH'S CAR READING (English): "REFUGEES WELCOME" MAN DISPLAYING V SIGN OUT OF WINDOW WITH HORNS BEEPING MAN BEEPING HORN CARS DRIVING AWAY GYOR, HUNGARY (SEPTEMBER 6, 2015) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS GATHERED OUTSIDE TRAIN STATION BOY SITTING ON WINDOWSILL MIGRANTS ON PAVEMENT SUPPLIES BEING UNLOADED WOMEN CARRYING SUPPLIES SUPPLIES BEING HANDED OUT VOLUNTEER SHOWING TOYS TO MIGRANT BOY MIGRANTS AND VOLUNTEERS GATHERED ON PAVEMENT WOMAN PUTTING BABY IN PUSHCHAIR PUSHCHAIR (SOUNDBITE) (English) SLOVAKIAN MEMBER OF CONVOY, LUCIA FALTIN, SAYING: "You don't feel, you just do it, there isn't much thinking these people need help. They haven't really chosen, many of them, the situation in their countries. I myself was helped when I was living in communist Czechoslovakia in 1988, so many people came to my help. I lived in England, so many people stood by me in difficult situations. I mean just normal life-to-life situations, it wasn't that dramatic but it's just a normal thing that you do." MIGRANTS STANDING BY CAR MIGRANTS LOADING LUGGAGE INTO CAR BOOT MIGRANTS GETTING IN CAR VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS IN CAR CARS LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YBTRV05MIHQCRRXJ8QVYHMVT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A convoy of some 190 cars set off from Austria to collect migrants making their way through neighbouring Hungary on Sunday (September 6), planning to ferry them over the border and beyond.
    Answering a call made on Facebook after the Hungarian authorities prevented migrants from making the crossing last week, the cars came from as far afield as Germany.
    26-year-old Philipp Stendebach works in the film industry, and he had driven all night with a group of friends from Cologne in western Germany, hoping to help.
    "It's really important to give a sign to them that they are welcome and that they don't have to fear Europe, and that especially Germany is a warm country for them, and that they don't have to fear and that they are safe and that they just don't have to sleep another days and nights on the street because it's such a horrible thing," he said.
    The convoy rallied at the Austrian border not far from the town of Nickelsdorf, tooting their horns in a show of solidarity before heading into Hungary.
    After dispersing, many cars rolled into the small town of Gyor 50 kilometres from the border, where groups of migrants had gathered at the local railway station.
    As well as transport, the volunteers brought supplies including food, clothes, sanitary towels and sweets which they distributed to the mainly Syrian migrants hoping to catch trains westwards.
    Joining the convoy was a small group from Bratislava, Slovakia who had already distributed shoes and socks to the migrants arriving on foot the previous day.
    Lucia Faltin picked up a Syrian Kurdish family and said she hoped to get them at least as far as the border, if not all the way to Vienna if they had no problems with the police.
    "You don't feel, you just do it, there isn't much thinking these people need help. They haven't really chosen, many of them, the situation in their countries. I myself was helped when I was living in communist Czechoslovakia in 1988, so many people came to my help. I lived in England, so many people stood by me in difficult situations. I mean just normal life-to-life situations, it wasn't that dramatic but it's just a normal thing that you do," she said.
    Austria and Germany have thrown open their borders to the wave of refugees making their way north and west from hot spots in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere. Hungary has been letting the human tide move on after holding it up for days.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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