An elderly Afghan migrant rests on the ground of a field, in Asotthalom, southern Hungary
Small groups of migrants continued to sneak into Hungary yesterday, a day after the country sealed its border with Serbia and began arresting people trying to breach the razor-wire barrier, while migrants began arriving in Croatia seeking a different way into the European Union.
Hungarian authorities said they have arrested a total of 519 migrants who tried to cross the border illegally since tough new laws went into effect on Tuesday that make it a crime to cross the border from Serbia. Authorities launched 46 criminal prosecutions and the first court cases are due to start later yesterday.
Televised images from a courthouse in Szeged showed four of those being charged with their hands tied in front of them and their shoelaces removed ahead of trial.
While the tough new measures have mostly stopped the flow across the border, isolated groups still managed to crawl under or climb over the forbidding barbed wire of the 175-kilometer border fence.
In the last few months, Hungary has become a main entry point into the European Union for migrants, many of them war refugees from the Middle East, with more than 200,000 entering the country so far this year. Almost all entered from the southern border with Serbia and passed through Hungary quickly on their way to Germany or other wealthy Western European nations.
Hungary’s foreign minister denied that closed borders and tough new laws signal callousness toward refugees, repeating the government’s claim that most of those entering Hungary are actually economic migrants.
“Based on our history, we are always in solidarity with the refugees,” Peter Szijjarto told The Associated Press in an interview. “What we’re saying is that we cannot accept economic migrants because we cannot bear the burden of that.”
Early yesterday, police on horseback surrounded a group of 14 Afghans, including five young girls and an elderly woman, in a field close to the fence. As they watched over the group, the officers’ radio crackled with news of other migrants being detained — one Syrian, one Afghan, a group of 11.
One refugee from Syria pleaded with a Hungarian policewoman over the razor wire fence: “Please let me go. Merkel said OK we can come to Germany, why Hungary say no?” he said.
Other migrants were seeking new paths on their way to Western Europe, some choosing to take the longer route through Croatia.
About 150 people crossed into Tovarnik, Croatia, early yesterday after they were bused to the Serbian border town of Sid on an all-night ride from Macedonia.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic criticized Hungary’s decision to seal its border with Serbia for migrants and said Croatia will not do the same.
“We are ready to accept these people, regardless of their religion and the color of their skin, and direct them to the destinations where they wish to go, Germany and Scandinavia,” Milanovic told lawmakers in Parliament.
“Barbed wire in Europe in the 21st century is not an answer, it’s a threat,” Milanovic said.
Dozens of police and aid workers waited for the migrants in Croatia, where they are being registered. Local media say some migrants have sought to cross into Croatia through nearby fields to avoid registration.
Migrants have avoided Croatia in the past because they must still go into Hungary or Slovenia before reaching Austria or Germany. Mike Corder and Dusan Stojanovic, Asotthalom, AP
assad: immigration crisis is all europe’s fault
Syrian President Bashar Assad is blaming Europe for the migration crisis, saying it’s a direct result of the West’s support for extremists in Syria over the past four years. In an interview yesterday with Russian media, Assad accused Europe of supporting “terrorism” and providing “protection for terrorists, calling them moderates.” “If you are worried about them (refugees), stop supporting terrorists,” he said, addressing Europe. He also accused Europe of having “unacceptable” double standards. Assad says “how can one be indignant about a drowned child and remain silent about the deaths of thousands of children, elderly people, women and men killed by terrorists in Syria?”
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