Hungarian border lockdown results in huge traffic jam, no checks on passengers from Slovakia

Already on the first day, the recently announced border measures resulted in massive traffic jams along the Slovakian border – police officers have temporarily stopped checking the registration forms requested to enter Hungary.

The Hungarian government’s recent border protection measures caused a massive traffic jam already in the morning hours on the first day of their introduction: according to Portfolio, border checks in Komárom (and the adjacent Slovakian city of Komárno) resulted in a queue of 1.5 km, which even “reached the roundabout in the city centre”.

As a result, police officers no longer ask for the registration forms, which were initially requested to provide information on the length and destination of visitors’ stay in Hungary.

The complete border lockdown, announced on 28 August, caused a big uproar both within and beyond the Hungarian borders. It allows entry into Hungary only in a few exceptional cases: originally, only Slovakian residents who live in a 30 km radius of the border would be allowed to enter the country for 24 hours,

but today, the entire country enjoys exemption from the ban, after the government made a second announcement that – on certain conditions – residents of all V4 countries are free to enter the territory of Hungary.

The new measures resulted in a massive traffic jam already in the morning hours not only in Komárom/Komárno but also in Esztergom/Štúrovo. According to Portfolio, the traffic jam was also caused by the closure of the border crossing point in Vámosszabadi/Medveďov located near Győr in western Hungary.

As the local Slovakian newspaper Új Szó reports, Hungarian police officers stopped asking for the obligatory registration documents: passengers are only requested to present their IDs and answer a couple of questions.

Source: portfolio.hu