EUROPE-MIGRANTS/HUNGARY-SERBIA REAX Migrants demand better treatment, protest registration in Hungary

Record ID: 142373

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/HUNGARY-SERBIA REAX Migrants demand better treatment, protest registration in Hungary
  • Date: 26th August 2015
  • Summary: ROSZKE, HUNGARY (AUGUST 26, 2015) (REUTERS) POLICE AND MIGRANTS INSIDE CAMP BUS TRANSPORTING MIGRANTS WAITING BUS LEAVING WITH MIGRANTS POLICEMAN SHUTTING GATE (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) COUNTY POLICE SPOKESPERSON, SZABOLCS SZENTI, SAYING: "What happened was that a small conflict erupted and several people tried to approach the fence, the policemen tried to stop them and they also used tear gas but there was no personal injury. At the moment the police are in control of the situation so the mood has calmed down." VARIOUS OF MIGRANT FAMILY SEEN THROUGH BARBED WIRE FENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT SOLIDARITY ACTIVIST, BALAZS SZALAI, SAYING: "The main problem is that too many people crossed the border and the police collect everybody and transport [them] to this place but this place is planned to 1,000 people. Yesterday there is, there were over 2,000 people so I think they don't have enough human resources and places to manage this situation. I think they should be spent more money for the camps and for the administration, not for the fence and the billboard campaign." VARIOUS OF POLICE GUARDING MIGRANTS AT COLLECTION POINT NEAR BORDER YOUNG BOY LOOKING FROM BEHIND POLICE LINE SERBIAN BORDER WITH HUNGARY, NEAR KANJIZA, SERBIA (AUGUST 25, 2015) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS INSIDE TENT RAIN WATER DRIPPING INSIDE TENT MIGRANT BOY STANDING IN RAIN MIGRANTS IN RAIN GEAR TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN MIGRANT, MUHAMMED EL GAZAVI, SAYING: "My goal is to reach Germany. I want to avoid the asylum seeking procedure and giving my fingerprints, because if I let them take my fingerprints (in Hungary) I will not be able to seek asylum in any other country. And I don't want to stay in Hungary because the standard of living there is low." VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS SITTING AROUND TABLE INSIDE TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN MIGRANT, NIDAL, SAYING: "It doesn't matter to me that Germany allows migrants to enter the country since many people here, including myself, haven't got any relatives there. And besides, Germany is saturated with people (migrants) already. Many people here have family members in Sweden or Switzerland, and to us Germany means little, and if I get to Sweden, where I am going, I will not be able to seek asylum there (after undergoing registration in Hungary)." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CHARGING PHONES IN TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN MIGRANT, AZIZ, SAYING: "Even if Germany allows us to seek asylum there, the problem is that the process can last anywhere between a year and two, and our families have stayed behind in Turkey and Syria. They are in a bad situation there, and that's really too long for us." BOY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN MIGRANT, AZIZ, SAYING: "We are waiting for security measures at the border to ease before I try to get into Hungary without giving my fingerprints, I intend to give my fingerprints once I reach Germany." SERBIAN BORDER WITH HUNGARY, NEAR HORGOS, SERBIA (AUGUST 26, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS DEPARTING BUS/LEAVING TOWARDS HUNGARIAN BORDER
  • Embargoed: 10th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA98A2NCIUF17I76691A8Y12TSU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Unrest flared in a crowded Hungarian reception centre on Wednesday (August 26), exposing tensions as record numbers of migrants enter the EU country from Serbia.
    Hungary plans to reinforce its southern border with helicopters, mounted police and dogs, and was also considering using the army as the migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, passed through coils of razor-wire into Europe.
    Over 2,500 mainly Syrians, Afghans and Pakistanis crossed from Serbia into the European Union on Tuesday (August 25), over, under or around a razor-wire barrier into the hands of an over-stretched police force that struggled to fingerprint and process them.
    "At the moment the police are in control of the situation so the mood has calmed down," local police spokesperson, Szabolcs Szenti, told Reuters after the incident in the border region of Roszke on Wednesday, when police used tear gas against migrants demanding assistance from the United Nations and protesting conditions.
    The flow of migrants continues despite Hungary's construction of its border fence. 1,300 were detained by 9.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) on Wednesday and more will have passed unnoticed, walking through gaps in a border fence being built by Hungary into a Europe groping for answers to its worst refugee crisis since World War Two.
    Local activist Balazs Szalai said Hungary's capacity to accept migrants is not enough.
    "The main problem is that too many people crossed the border and the police collect everybody and transport [them] to this place but this place is planned to 1,000 people. Yesterday there is, there were over 2,000 people so I think they don't have enough human resources and places to manage this situation. I think they should be spent more money for the camps and for the administration, not for the fence and the billboard campaign," Szalai, who works for the NGO Migrant Solidarity, said.
    Hungary, which is part of Europe's Schengen passport-free travel zone, is building a 3.5-metre high fence along its 175-km (110-mile) border with Serbia in a bid to keep them out, taking a hard line on what right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban says is a threat to European security, prosperity and identity.
    In Roszke, the police said some 200 migrants at the reception centre where unrest flared had refused to be fingerprinted.
    Almost all hope to reach the more affluent countries of northern and western Europe, but being fingerprinted in Hungary means that, under EU rules, they risk being returned to Budapest as their official point of entry into the 28-nation EU.
    In the case of Syrians, Germany has, however, quietly dropped the so-called 'Dublin Regulation' which would require refugees to be taken back to their first point of entry into the bloc.
    For those who arrive to the northern Serbian town Kanjiza, their last step before crossing into Hungary, fingerprinting is still a major issue.
    Migrants, mostly from Syria, use a local camp for a short rest and to charge their phones before resuming their journey towards Hungary, which also marks the beginning of EU's passport-free area.
    "My goal is to reach Germany. I want to avoid the asylum seeking procedure and giving my fingerprints, because if I let them take my fingerprints (in Hungary) I will not be able to seek asylum in any other country. And I don't want to stay in Hungary because the standard of living there is low," Syrian migrant, Muhammed El Gazavi, said.
    Embroiled in a debilitating economic crisis, Greece has taken to ferrying mainly Syrian migrants from its overwhelmed islands to Athens. Some 50,000 hit Greek shores by boat from Turkey in July alone.
    Some European leaders have complained that Greece fails to register its arrivals, meaning their first recognised point of entry is often elsewhere and Athens does not risk them being sent back.
    Refugees on the border said they were also interested in reaching Sweden and other western European countries, where - unlike Germany with its new suspension -- having been fingerprinted elsewhere in the bloc may still be an issue.
    "It doesn't matter to me that Germany allows migrants to enter the country since many people here, including myself, haven't got any relatives there. And besides, Germany is saturated with people (migrants) already. Many people here have family members in Sweden or Switzerland, and to us Germany means little, and if I get to Sweden, where I am going, I will not be able to seek asylum there (after undergoing registration in Hungary)," Nidal from Syria said.
    "Even if Germany allows us to seek asylum there, the problem is that the process can last anywhere between a year and two, and our families have stayed behind in Turkey and Syria. They are in a bad situation there, and that's really too long for us," another Syrian man, Aziz, said.
    "We are waiting for security measures at the border to ease before I try to get into Hungary without giving my fingerprints, I intend to give my fingerprints once I reach Germany," Aziz added, unaware of Germany's low-key rule change.
    Serbia said around 10,000 migrants were passing through the country at any time, their stay lengthening as Hungary nears completion of its border fence.
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