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| Hungary closes main Budapest station to refugees | Hungary closes main Budapest station to refugees |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Hungarian authorities have closed Budapest’s main station to refugees and migrants following chaotic scenes on Monday, when people who had been camped outside for weeks were suddenly allowed to leave for Austria and Germany without visa checks. | Hungarian authorities have closed Budapest’s main station to refugees and migrants following chaotic scenes on Monday, when people who had been camped outside for weeks were suddenly allowed to leave for Austria and Germany without visa checks. |
| The move followed the earlier closing of the train station altogether, when all trains to the west were stopped from leaving. Police in helmets and wielding batons surrounded Keleti station’s grand, crumbling facade and dozens of refugees and migrants who were inside were forced out. | |
| A government spokesman said Hungary was trying to enforce EU law, which requires anyone who wishes to travel in the borderless Schengen zone to hold a valid passport and visa. | A government spokesman said Hungary was trying to enforce EU law, which requires anyone who wishes to travel in the borderless Schengen zone to hold a valid passport and visa. |
| Related: Packed trains reach Germany as refugee visa checks are waived | Related: Packed trains reach Germany as refugee visa checks are waived |
| The closure of the station to refugees and migrants appeared prompted in part by pressure from other EU countries trying to cope with arrivals from Hungary. | The closure of the station to refugees and migrants appeared prompted in part by pressure from other EU countries trying to cope with arrivals from Hungary. |
| Hundreds of refugees and migrants demonstrated outside the station, demanding that it be reopened to them and they be allowed to travel on to Germany. Having seen the end of journey in sight, they bought tickets at around €100 per person, only to be denied entry on Tuesday morning. | |
| “Why have they sold us return tickets? We are refugees, we are one-way,” said Mohammed, who had travelled from Damascus with his uncle and cousins. “These people are thieves.” | |
| Rafir Kozma, 30, from Syria, said “I came here and they bought a ticket for three people to Munich, it was €370.20. My train was at 7am this morning and the police didn’t let me into the station, and after you see what happened.” | |
| There were chaotic scenes at railway stations in Germany on Tuesday as around 2,000 refugees and migrants arrived on trains from Hungary overnight, with police saying that thousands more were expected on trains throughout the day. | |
| Police in their hundreds at stations in Munich and Rosenheim in Bavaria were escorting passengers – mostly from Syria, but also from Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea – off the trains. Exhausted, and dehydrated after long journeys, they were then being taken to reception centres across Bavaria. | Police in their hundreds at stations in Munich and Rosenheim in Bavaria were escorting passengers – mostly from Syria, but also from Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea – off the trains. Exhausted, and dehydrated after long journeys, they were then being taken to reception centres across Bavaria. |
| Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said that Germany could cope with the numbers, but on Tuesday stressed again the need for a “fairer distribution” of refugees across the EU at a joint press conference in Berlin with Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, before talks where the refugee emergency was to be the main focus. | Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said that Germany could cope with the numbers, but on Tuesday stressed again the need for a “fairer distribution” of refugees across the EU at a joint press conference in Berlin with Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, before talks where the refugee emergency was to be the main focus. |
| As refugees shouting “Germany! Germany!” were locked out of Budapest’s Keleti station on Tuesday morning, after having been allowed to travel unhindered to Germany and Austria on Monday, both Berlin and Vienna were demanding answers from Hungary’s government. | As refugees shouting “Germany! Germany!” were locked out of Budapest’s Keleti station on Tuesday morning, after having been allowed to travel unhindered to Germany and Austria on Monday, both Berlin and Vienna were demanding answers from Hungary’s government. |
| Austria’s chancellor, Werner Faymann, did not hide his fury towards Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, calling on him to ensure the refugees were registered before allowing them to travel over the border. | Austria’s chancellor, Werner Faymann, did not hide his fury towards Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, calling on him to ensure the refugees were registered before allowing them to travel over the border. |
| “That they are simply getting on board in Budapest and they make sure they travel to the neighbouring country – what sort of politics is that?” he angrily told Austrian television. | “That they are simply getting on board in Budapest and they make sure they travel to the neighbouring country – what sort of politics is that?” he angrily told Austrian television. |
| Many who arrived in Vienna on Monday travelled on to Salzburg, on the border with Germany, where they spent the night in the railway station and were looked after by charity organisations. | Many who arrived in Vienna on Monday travelled on to Salzburg, on the border with Germany, where they spent the night in the railway station and were looked after by charity organisations. |
| Fewer than 10 of about 3,600 people who arrived in Austria had applied for asylum there, the authorities said. The rest said they wanted to go to Germany. | Fewer than 10 of about 3,600 people who arrived in Austria had applied for asylum there, the authorities said. The rest said they wanted to go to Germany. |
| As the German authorities were questioning why Austria had let many of the trains carry on to Germany, Austria’s interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner accused Berlin of bringing the situation on itself by “awakening hopes” in refugees after Merkel’s government said last week it would not turn those from Syria back. | As the German authorities were questioning why Austria had let many of the trains carry on to Germany, Austria’s interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner accused Berlin of bringing the situation on itself by “awakening hopes” in refugees after Merkel’s government said last week it would not turn those from Syria back. |
| Refugees who had arrived at Munich station on overnight trains chanted “Ich liebe Angela Merkel” (I love Angela Merkel). | Refugees who had arrived at Munich station on overnight trains chanted “Ich liebe Angela Merkel” (I love Angela Merkel). |
| As volunteer organisations set up makeshift arrangements to feed and provide water to new arrivals in Munich, the city’s police said they had reinforced water supplies. Commuters on their way to work in Munich were seen buying ‘brezel’ bread rolls and bottles of water and handing them out to exhausted refugees. | As volunteer organisations set up makeshift arrangements to feed and provide water to new arrivals in Munich, the city’s police said they had reinforced water supplies. Commuters on their way to work in Munich were seen buying ‘brezel’ bread rolls and bottles of water and handing them out to exhausted refugees. |
| Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, stressed that none of the refugees from Syria would be sent back to Hungary, as would be usual under EU rules, but would be sent instead to reception centres. | Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, stressed that none of the refugees from Syria would be sent back to Hungary, as would be usual under EU rules, but would be sent instead to reception centres. |
| The Schengen agreement requires refugees to seek asylum in the first country they enter under the EU’s Dublin accord, but it emerged last week that Berlin had suspended it for Syrians, who would now be permitted to stay in Germany and apply for refugee status – a move that angered Hungary, which said it would encourage more migrants to make the journey to Europe. | The Schengen agreement requires refugees to seek asylum in the first country they enter under the EU’s Dublin accord, but it emerged last week that Berlin had suspended it for Syrians, who would now be permitted to stay in Germany and apply for refugee status – a move that angered Hungary, which said it would encourage more migrants to make the journey to Europe. |
| Merkel on Monday sent out her strongest message yet that Germany was bolstering its efforts to deal with the emergency, saying: “Germany is a strong country and the motive must be: ‘we’ve managed so much, we can manage this’,” she told a news conference in Berlin. | Merkel on Monday sent out her strongest message yet that Germany was bolstering its efforts to deal with the emergency, saying: “Germany is a strong country and the motive must be: ‘we’ve managed so much, we can manage this’,” she told a news conference in Berlin. |
| Related: A laboratory for refugee politics: inside Passau, the 'German Lampedusa' | Related: A laboratory for refugee politics: inside Passau, the 'German Lampedusa' |
| But she stressed that the situation needed to be seen in its European dimension. “If Europe fails over the refugee question ... it will not be the Europe that we had imagined,” she said. | But she stressed that the situation needed to be seen in its European dimension. “If Europe fails over the refugee question ... it will not be the Europe that we had imagined,” she said. |
| Michael Fuchs, the deputy leader of the parliamentary group of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance, urged that more be done to integrate refugees into the German workplace, calling on the government to set up language courses and to send job centre employees to the reception camps to assess newcomers’ qualifications. | Michael Fuchs, the deputy leader of the parliamentary group of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance, urged that more be done to integrate refugees into the German workplace, calling on the government to set up language courses and to send job centre employees to the reception camps to assess newcomers’ qualifications. |
| “It makes no sense for them to be hanging around in camps,” he told German Radio DLF. “That will only lead to ghetto-style circumstances.” Fuchs added that the number of those who were expected to seek asylum in Germany would likely need to be revised again from the 800,000 figure given by interior minister Thomas de Maizière two weeks ago. | “It makes no sense for them to be hanging around in camps,” he told German Radio DLF. “That will only lead to ghetto-style circumstances.” Fuchs added that the number of those who were expected to seek asylum in Germany would likely need to be revised again from the 800,000 figure given by interior minister Thomas de Maizière two weeks ago. |
| “I recall that at the start of the year we were talking about 200,000 people. Yesterday, the figure of one million was doing the rounds. It is going up in a manner in which we could never have imagined. Neither should we be under the impression that this influx will be over by the end of the year. It is likely to continue in the same vein next year,” he said. | “I recall that at the start of the year we were talking about 200,000 people. Yesterday, the figure of one million was doing the rounds. It is going up in a manner in which we could never have imagined. Neither should we be under the impression that this influx will be over by the end of the year. It is likely to continue in the same vein next year,” he said. |