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Keleti Train Station in Budapest Temporarily Shuts Down Amid Migrant Crisis Keleti Train Station in Budapest Cuts Off Service to Migrants Amid Crisis
(about 1 hour later)
BUDAPEST — Keleti train station, which has emerged as ground zero in Europe’s spiraling migration crisis, temporarily shut down its services on Tuesday under the strain of an influx of migrants trying to travel to Germany from Hungary. BUDAPEST — Keleti train station here, which has emerged as ground zero in Europe’s spiraling migration crisis, cut off service to migrants on Tuesday as European countries remained bitterly divided and confused over how to handle the situation.
Emphasizing the sense of confusion across Europe, Austria’s interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, called on Germany, the preferred destination for many of the migrants, to clarify its stance on asylum rules. Emphasizing the sense of confusion, Austria’s interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, called on Germany, the preferred destination for many of the migrants, to clarify its stance on asylum rules, and Chancellor Werner Faymann lashed out at Hungary for its seeming failure to register migrants before they were sent on to neighboring Austria.
Rows of riot police officers wearing red caps tried to contain the migrants in Budapest, and the migrants erupted in protest after the station stopped allowing them to board trains. Instead, they were allowed into the courtyard of the station, which has been transformed into a makeshift camp. “That they are simply getting on board in Budapest and they make sure they will travel to the neighboring country – what sort of politics is that?” he asked on Austrian television.
The migrants, who had been gathered since 5 a.m. in the hopes of boarding a train, chanted: “Go free! Go free! Go free!” Later, they shouted, “Merkel, Merkel,” referring to Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, whose country is expected to receive 800,000 asylum seekers this year. Hungary, in turn, expressed its anger by summoning the Austrian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry.
Train services at Keleti were restored shortly after 10 a.m., and no migrants were being allowed back into the station. “It is disappointing and incomprehensible that the leader of a neighboring country should talk in this vein about an issue which is causing Hungary, as well as Europe, immense difficulties amounting to a historic challenge,” the minister of foreign affairs and trade, Peter Szijjarto, told the Hungarian news agency MTI.
The scenes of confusion and despair at Keleti underlined the challenges facing Europe as tens of thousands of migrants, buffeted by civil war and conflict in the Middle East and Syria, try to make the perilous journey to Europe, only to be confronted with a patchwork of policies across a 28-member bloc that is ill equipped to deal with the surge. The cold reception migrants received in Budapest was in marked contrast to the welcome in Munich, where the police said on Tuesday that about 2,500 people had arrived on trains from Budapest, via Vienna, in the span of 24 hours. Hundreds more continued to arrive early Tuesday.
Tamas Lederer, a volunteer who is helping to coordinate the response at Keleti, said he had been told that as of Tuesday, only passengers with visas from countries in the European Union’s open-border Schengen zone would be allowed to board the trains. The scenes of confusion and despair at Keleti and the acrimonious exchanges underlined the challenges facing Europe as tens of thousands of migrants, buffeted by civil war and conflict in the Middle East and Syria, are trying to make the perilous journey to Europe, only to be confronted with a patchwork of policies across a 28-member bloc that is ill equipped to deal with the surge.
He said that migrants and asylum seekers with identity cards and passports from places like Syria had been able to travel on Monday, but that the authorities had toughened their stance. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, under pressure from a far-right anti-immigrant party with a sizable voice in Parliament, has itself aired some of the most strident anti-immigrant speech on the Continent, and it is in the process of building a fence on the Serbian border.
In the last five days, the number of migrants trying to leave from the Budapest station has grown to 2,000 a day from about 800, he said. Adding to the divisions, Janos Lazar, Mr. Orban’s chief of staff, on Tuesday blamed the European Union for stoking the migration crisis, saying that a leftist approach by the European Union over the past 10 years had saddled it with a difficult crisis.
The chaotic scenes at the station came as Austria asked Germany to provide guidance about how to handle asylum seekers. He said that Europe and Hungary must prepare for millions of people heading to Europe, and that the unrest in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria had made it obvious that one-off measures were not enough. He accused the bloc of failing to properly police its territory, saying that the “E.U. has failed to manage the situation, and the problem is the E.U. itself, which is incapable of protecting its own borders.”
At Keleti in Budapest, rows of riot police officers wearing red caps tried to contain the migrants, and the station was shut down under the strain of the influx of migrants trying to travel to Germany from Hungary. The migrants erupted in protest after the station stopped allowing them to board trains, and they were instead funneled into its courtyard, which had been transformed into a makeshift camp.
The migrants, who had been gathered since 5 a.m. in hopes of boarding a train, chanted: “Go free! Go free! Go free!” Later, they shouted, “Merkel, Merkel,” referring to Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, whose country is expected to receive 800,000 asylum seekers this year.
Train services at Keleti were restored shortly after 10 a.m., but no migrants were being allowed back into the station.
It was a different story in Munich, where streets around the central train station were blocked off to allow the authorities to organize the migrants and bring them to the city’s refugee processing centers, where they were to be registered and begin the process of applying for asylum.
Matching the flood of people was a flow of donations of drinks, food and baby necessities from Munich residents. “There is no end to the willingness of people to help — Great!” the police said on Twitter.
The contrasting scenes in Budapest and Munich reflected a continent polarized by how to respond to a wave of migrants trying to reach Europe.
In a post on Twitter from its federal office for migrant affairs last week, Germany indicated that it was easing its rules, which call for migrants to seek asylum in the European Union country where they first arrive or are registered, for those coming from Syria.In a post on Twitter from its federal office for migrant affairs last week, Germany indicated that it was easing its rules, which call for migrants to seek asylum in the European Union country where they first arrive or are registered, for those coming from Syria.
Although the language made clear that Germany was not changing its overall policy but was issuing guidance for certain situations, it was reported as a general easing of the rules, stirring hope among migrants and confusing European partners. Although the language made clear that Germany was not changing its overall policy but was issuing guidance for certain situations, it was reported as a general easing of the rules, stirring hope among the migrants and confusing European partners.
The German action appeared to cast doubt on whether the Dublin Regulation, which establishes the criteria for handling asylum seekers, was still in force.The German action appeared to cast doubt on whether the Dublin Regulation, which establishes the criteria for handling asylum seekers, was still in force.
“There were even rumors that Germany is sending trains to Budapest to pick up refugees,” Reuters quoted Ms. Mikl-Leitner as saying before a regular cabinet meeting in Vienna. “There were even rumors that Germany is sending trains to Budapest to pick up refugees,” Reuters quoted Ms. Mikl-Leitner as saying before a regular cabinet meeting in Vienna. “It is all the more important that Germany informs refugees in Hungary that Dublin has not been suspended.”
“It is all the more important that Germany informs refugees in Hungary that Dublin has not been suspended,” she said. Ms. Mikl-Leitner was speaking after a day of ambiguity about whether migrants who had reached Hungary, a European Union member and part of the Schengen zone, could head west to Austria and on to Germany. Many migrants have been apparently avoiding registering in Hungary or Austria in hopes of finding refuge in Germany, even as migrant advocates say that European Union countries appear to be selectively applying the Dublin rules, in some cases failing to register or fingerprint migrants to avoid having to take responsibility.
Ms. Mikl-Leitner was speaking after a day of ambiguity about whether migrants who had reached Hungary, a European Union member and part of the Schengen zone, could head west to Austria and on to Germany. Many migrants apparently have been avoiding registering in Hungary or Austria in hopes of finding refuge in Germany, even as migrant advocates say that European Union countries appear to be selectively applying the regulation, in some cases failing to register or fingerprint migrants to avoid having to take responsibility. Ms. Merkel has insisted that her country continued to apply the Dublin Regulation, and a spokesman for the Interior Ministry reiterated that point on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Ms. Merkel, speaking at a news conference in Berlin on Monday, said that her country continued to apply the Dublin Regulation, as the rules are known, and a spokesman for the Interior Ministry reiterated that point on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
She said that comments a week ago by the head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had “led to the misunderstanding that all Syrians can come to Germany.”
But she added that Syrians who make it to Germany and have not been registered elsewhere would be granted asylum as refugees of war.
In Hungary, the authorities said in a statement that the Budapest police chief had heightened controls in the capital for the next seven days, with a focus on districts with large migrant populations. The police said they would intensify checks of documents, as well as search clothing and vehicles.In Hungary, the authorities said in a statement that the Budapest police chief had heightened controls in the capital for the next seven days, with a focus on districts with large migrant populations. The police said they would intensify checks of documents, as well as search clothing and vehicles.
Karoly Papp, the national police chief, said that the flow of migrants at the border continued, and that 500 people had been detained for illegal crossings from Serbia between the start of Tuesday and 6 a.m. Zsuzsanna Vegh, head of the immigration office, said 2,000 asylum requests had been registered overnight, bringing the total to over 44,000. Most of those came from people claiming to be Syrians, she said.Karoly Papp, the national police chief, said that the flow of migrants at the border continued, and that 500 people had been detained for illegal crossings from Serbia between the start of Tuesday and 6 a.m. Zsuzsanna Vegh, head of the immigration office, said 2,000 asylum requests had been registered overnight, bringing the total to over 44,000. Most of those came from people claiming to be Syrians, she said.
The cold reception migrants received in Budapest was in marked contrast to the one in Munich, where the police said on Tuesday that about 2,500 people had arrived on trains from Budapest, via Vienna, in the span of 24 hours. Hundreds more continued to arrive early Tuesday. Tamas Lederer, a volunteer who is helping to coordinate the response at Keleti, said he had been told that as of Tuesday, only refugees with visas from countries in the European Union’s open-border Schengen zone would be allowed to board the trains.
Streets around the city’s central train station were blocked off to allow the authorities to organize the migrants and bring them to the city’s refugee processing centers, where they were to be registered and begin the process of applying for asylum. He said that migrants and asylum seekers with identity cards and passports from places like Syria had been able to travel on Monday, but that the authorities had toughened their stance.
Matching the flood of people was a flow of donations of drinks, food and baby necessities from Munich residents. “There is no end to the willingness of people to help — Great!” the police said on Twitter. In the last five days, the number of migrants trying to leave from the Budapest station has grown to 2,000 a day from about 800, he said.
In Hungary, the center-right government, under pressure from a far-right anti-immigrant party with a sizable voice in Parliament, has itself aired some of the most strident anti-immigrant speech on the Continent, and it is in the process of building a fence on the Serbian border.
On Tuesday, Janos Lazar, chief of staff to Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, blamed the European Union for stoking the migration crisis, saying that a leftist approach by the European Union over the past 10 years, during which anybody had been allowed into the bloc, had saddled it with a difficult situation.
He said that Europe and Hungary must prepare for millions of people heading to Europe, and that the unrest in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria made it obvious that one-off measures were not enough. He accused the bloc of failing to properly police its territory, saying that the “E.U. has failed to manage the situation, and the problem is the E.U. itself, which is incapable of protecting its own borders.”
Migrants at Keleti on Monday had a mixed reception, with police officers setting up a cordon that prevented them from accessing the international ticket office, before it was eventually opened.Migrants at Keleti on Monday had a mixed reception, with police officers setting up a cordon that prevented them from accessing the international ticket office, before it was eventually opened.
At the ticket offices, migrants waited in long lines to buy tickets for westbound trains, guided by a handful of police officers.At the ticket offices, migrants waited in long lines to buy tickets for westbound trains, guided by a handful of police officers.
Ayham Kaka, 30, from Aleppo, Syria, was sitting at the corner of a food stall with his wife and small child. They had been lucky enough to secure tickets on the last direct service to Berlin for the day.Ayham Kaka, 30, from Aleppo, Syria, was sitting at the corner of a food stall with his wife and small child. They had been lucky enough to secure tickets on the last direct service to Berlin for the day.
“We don’t come to stay in Hungary,” he said, recounting a difficult journey through the Balkans, the last leg of which involved crawling under barbed-wire barriers and being held up for four days in Budapest. “It is a very dangerous situation; the police are very dangerous,” he added.“We don’t come to stay in Hungary,” he said, recounting a difficult journey through the Balkans, the last leg of which involved crawling under barbed-wire barriers and being held up for four days in Budapest. “It is a very dangerous situation; the police are very dangerous,” he added.
Jannik Fröchlich and Carina Lehmann, both 21, from Hanover, Germany, were waiting to board the Berlin-bound train, too. They were shocked to experience what they had seen only on television. Jannik Fröchlich and Carina Lehmann, both 21, from Hanover, Germany, were waiting to board the Berlin-bound train, too. They were shocked to experience what they had until then seen only on television.
“It’s difficult, you can’t allow everybody to come,” Mr. Fröchlich said. “It would be giving a bad signal.”“It’s difficult, you can’t allow everybody to come,” Mr. Fröchlich said. “It would be giving a bad signal.”