- Title: Migrants continue march towards Serbia's border with Hungary
- Date: 5th October 2016
- Summary: INDJIJA, SERBIA (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS SLEEPING AT PETROL STATION TWO MEN COVERED UP WITH BLANKET MIGRANT SITTING COVERED IN BLANKET VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS AT PETROL STATION POLICEMEN STANDING / POLICE CARS PARKED AT PETROL STATION MIGRANTS MAN SITTING IN BUSH (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM AFGHANISTAN, AHMAD, SAYING: "We want from Hungary government to open the border because right now, human situation is very critical in Belgrade city, all the camps full, we sleep in the streets, we sleep under the bridge, lack of sanitation, lack of food, lack of everything. Because all the camps full, we already applied, but all the camps full, so the only way we must pass from Hungary and we want to go to west Europe countries. This is our destination." MIGRANTS RECEIVING FOOD MAN EATING FOOD BEING DISTRIBUTED MIGRANTS AT PETROL STATION / MAN WALKING WITH PLASTIC BAG MEN STANDING COVERED IN BLANKETS MEN SITTING ON GROUND BELGRADE, SERBIA (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS WAITING IN LINE FOR FOOD VARIOUS OF AID WORKER DISTRIBUTING FOOD MIGRANTS GETTING FOOD/WALKING AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANTS FROM AFGHANISTAN, ALFUDIN, SAYING: "Situation is very bad here, too many people come here, I want opened the border because as you know, too much cold here, I would like hot room, you know, no bread, too many children here, like family, no have good place for sleeping." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM AFGHANISTAN, BULAJ, SAYING: "Our main point is please open Hungary border, just (this) we want at this point." MIGRANTS WAITING IN LINE TWO MEN COVERED IN BLANKETS MIGRANTS WALKING IN LINE MIGRANTS STANDING IN LINE IN PARK
- Embargoed: 20th October 2016 10:22
- Keywords: Serbia migrants Hungary
- Location: INDJIJA AND BELGRADE, SERBIA
- City: INDJIJA AND BELGRADE, SERBIA
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00152QAIX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Around a third of a group of around 150 who marched from Belgrade to the Hungarian border a day earlier remained stranded on Wednesday (October 5) at a petrol station north of the Serbian capital in rain and autumn cold.
Some 7,000 migrants, most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere, are trapped in Serbia, prevented from continuing further into Europe by fences running the length of the Hungarian-Serbian border.
After a night under heavy rain, most of the migrants, mainly men from Afghanistan and Pakistan, decided to return to Belgrade. The remainder hunkered down under police guard at a petrol station in Indjija, around 50 kilometers north of Belgrade.
Early on Wednesday, aid workers distributed blankets to migrants, a local baker provided pastries and sandwiches and authorities pledged to provide buses, as many migrants complained of fatigue and cold.
Ahmad, an Afghani man from Kabul, said migrants decided to take off to the Hungarian border due to deteriorating conditions in the Serbian capital.
"We want from Hungary government to open the border because right now, human situation is very critical in Belgrade city, all the camps full, we sleep in the streets, we sleep under the bridge, lack of sanitation, lack of food, lack of everything," Ahmad said.
The Belgrade-based Asylum Protection Centre said that refugee camps in Serbia are stretched thin.
The migrants who remained in Indjija said they are adamant in their plan to travel to the Hungarian border to continue with the protest, demanding a passage to the Western Europe.
Aid workers at migrant information centre near Belgrade's main bus station said lines of migrants queuing for breakfast had doubled in length in recent days.
Refugee centers are overcrowded and migrants can be seen camping in parks near Belgrade's bus station, similarly as in the height of the migrant crisis last year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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