Hundreds of migrants reach Hungarian border

A group of hundreds of migrants that recently set off for Hungary from Serbia has reached Hungary’s southern border at Tompa, public television’s current affairs channel M1 reported on Thursday.

M1’s on-site correspondent said there were about 400-500 migrants gathered at the border with more on the way, adding that the crowd was growing “more and more determined”.

The correspondent said the crowd was peaceful, noting that the group’s organisers said they would not tolerate “vandalism” and wanted to cross the border peacefully before moving on towards inner Europe.

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He said earlier that the migrant caravan had been organised in closed social media groups for weeks.

Asked if the caravan comprised of single men was peaceful when it set off for the Hungarian border, the correspondent said: “They always start out that way but then we see how things escalate.”

M1’s live broadcast showed migrants marching in small groups with their personal belongings.

Another correspondent near the Kelebia border crossing said there were also children among the migrants, adding that “they’re obviously the ones leading the march”.

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One of the migrants told M1 that they had no intention of staying in Hungary or Romania but rather wanted to reach western Europe.

Police have lined up on the Hungarian side of the border while on the other side of it a woman attempted to talk to the authorities in German, the correspondent said.

The Bács-Kiskun County police headquarters said in the afternoon that the Tompa border crossing has been closed temporarily.

Subotica’s local television channel Pannon RTV reported that migrants gathered at the Kubekhaza-Rabe border crossing had also set off for the Tompa crossing.

The migrants heading towards Kelebia told journalists they had heard that Hungary had opened its border to migrants there. Bus tickets to Subotica (Szabadka) were sold out at the Belgrade bus station two days in advance and buses carrying migrants were constantly arriving at the Subotica station from all over Serbia.

Lajos Kósa, the head of parliament’s defence and law enforcement committee, told M1 earlier in the day that the migrant convoys were being organised to “test” the Hungarian border and see where it could be breached. Hungarian border patrol officers are monitoring the situation closely, he added.

Meanwhile, international lawyer Norbert Tóth told M1 that the aim of the migrant marches was to paint a picture in the European media of how “cruelly” Hungary was treating asylum seekers. “The laws are pretty clear,” Tóth said. “The only way Hungary could allow these people in would be by violating its own laws and European Union laws. We’re talking about an external Schengen border, so the Schengen rules have to be observed.”

Source: MTI