Hungary foreign minister calls for Serbia action against aggressive migrants – UPDATE

Budapest, September 16 (MTI) – The Hungarian foreign minister has asked Serbian authorities to take immediate action against a group of aggressive migrants attempting to forcefully cross into Hungary at Roszke on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement.

Peter Szijjarto phoned his Serbian colleague Ivica Dacic over developments at the border point where a group of migrants threw stones and concrete pieces at police officers on the Hungarian side of the border, the ministry said.

Szijjarto asked immediate action by Serbian authorities, while Dacic promised to communicate the request to the Serbian interior minister without delay.

Speaking on public television M1, Szijjarto announced that Roszke border station would be closed for 30 days. He added that affected countries had been informed about the measure.

The foreign minister said that those attacking the police are “not peaceful refugees”. What Hungary faces is a “massive, aggressive migration challenge”. The migrants’ attitude is “appalling, unacceptable”, he added.

In the evening, Serbia’s interior minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that the Serbian side would do all in its capacity to prevent further incidents and send more police to the Hungarian border. He noted, however, that the Hungarian police should act “less aggressively” against migrants, and suggested that it would be easier to control the situation.

The Serbian government has sent a protest note to its Hungarian counterpart over Hungarian police using tear gas in Serbian territory, the minister said. “We will talk to our Hungarian colleagues to ensure that such incidents should not recur,” he said.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters