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Refugee crisis: Hundreds set off from Budapest on foot – as it happened
Refugee crisis: Hundreds set off from Budapest on foot – as it happened
(6 days later)
5.38pm BST
5.38pm BST
17:38
17:38
Afternoon summary
Afternoon summary
Nadia Khomami
Nadia Khomami
We’re closing the live blog now. I’ve included all the significant developments from today below.
We’re closing the live blog now. I’ve included all the significant developments from today below.
Join us again tomorrow morning, when we’ll continue to cover the deepening migration crisis that has engulfed Europe.
Join us again tomorrow morning, when we’ll continue to cover the deepening migration crisis that has engulfed Europe.
5.29pm BST
5.29pm BST
17:29
17:29
Further information has come in about the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia rejecting an EU-wide quota system, a measure that Germany and France support.
Further information has come in about the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia rejecting an EU-wide quota system, a measure that Germany and France support.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have proposed creating a rail corridor for Syrian refugees linking Hungary and Germany. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said at a joint press conference in Prague: “The Czech Republic and Slovakia can create a rail corridor for Syrian refugees travelling from Hungary to Germany, if Berlin and Budapest agree.”
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have proposed creating a rail corridor for Syrian refugees linking Hungary and Germany. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said at a joint press conference in Prague: “The Czech Republic and Slovakia can create a rail corridor for Syrian refugees travelling from Hungary to Germany, if Berlin and Budapest agree.”
Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz insisted that her country, the largest in the region to reject adopting fixed quotas for hosting refugees, believes in “European solidarity”. “We understand this as allowing EU members to take sovereign decisions about their engagement, corresponding to their real possibilities,” she said.
Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz insisted that her country, the largest in the region to reject adopting fixed quotas for hosting refugees, believes in “European solidarity”. “We understand this as allowing EU members to take sovereign decisions about their engagement, corresponding to their real possibilities,” she said.
Chovanec told reporters: “The quotas are no solution, we don’t even know the formula we should use to redistribute migrants, and above all how to keep them on Czech and Slovak territories when virtually all of them don’t want to stay here.”
Chovanec told reporters: “The quotas are no solution, we don’t even know the formula we should use to redistribute migrants, and above all how to keep them on Czech and Slovak territories when virtually all of them don’t want to stay here.”
While insisting that the EU’s Schengen system of passport-free travel must remain intact, Slovakia’s leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico warned that uncontrolled migration raised the risk of terrorists circulating freely within the EU.
While insisting that the EU’s Schengen system of passport-free travel must remain intact, Slovakia’s leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico warned that uncontrolled migration raised the risk of terrorists circulating freely within the EU.
5.16pm BST
5.16pm BST
17:16
17:16
This is the route the march would take from Budapest to Vienna and onto Munich. Hundreds of migrants have set off along the motorway on foot.
This is the route the march would take from Budapest to Vienna and onto Munich. Hundreds of migrants have set off along the motorway on foot.
4.59pm BST
4.59pm BST
16:59
16:59
More than 4 million people have fled Syria since March 2011. Click through to watch a video, published by AFP, explaining the crisis.
More than 4 million people have fled Syria since March 2011. Click through to watch a video, published by AFP, explaining the crisis.
Updated
Updated
at 5.01pm BST
at 5.01pm BST
4.55pm BST
4.55pm BST
16:55
16:55
Migrants on a Hungarian train in the town of Bicske have agreed to end their stand-off with riot police and begun to voluntarily leave the train, a Reuters reporter at the station said. Families, mostly women and children, were seen leaving the train and police said the people would be transported to a migrant camp in Bicske.
Migrants on a Hungarian train in the town of Bicske have agreed to end their stand-off with riot police and begun to voluntarily leave the train, a Reuters reporter at the station said. Families, mostly women and children, were seen leaving the train and police said the people would be transported to a migrant camp in Bicske.
4.53pm BST
4.53pm BST
16:53
16:53
Nearly a dozen new leftist Spanish town halls are working to create a network of cities to assist refugees and say Spain should take in more migrants than the 2,739 the country’s government has agreed on.
Nearly a dozen new leftist Spanish town halls are working to create a network of cities to assist refugees and say Spain should take in more migrants than the 2,739 the country’s government has agreed on.
The “refugee city” program started when Barcelona mayor Ada Colau announced the creation of a register of people who can take in or help refugees. She said the city hall has received thousands of offers.
The “refugee city” program started when Barcelona mayor Ada Colau announced the creation of a register of people who can take in or help refugees. She said the city hall has received thousands of offers.
Other cities such as Madrid and Valencia have followed suit. Madrid mayor Manuela Carmena promised to dedicate 10 million euros to the project.
Other cities such as Madrid and Valencia have followed suit. Madrid mayor Manuela Carmena promised to dedicate 10 million euros to the project.
Opposition groups in Spain have criticised the government’s reluctance to take in more migrants. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that Spain will probably take in more than previously announced.
Opposition groups in Spain have criticised the government’s reluctance to take in more migrants. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that Spain will probably take in more than previously announced.
4.50pm BST
4.50pm BST
16:50
16:50
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia reject quota system
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia reject quota system
The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have rejected any quota system for accepting migrants. The four EU leaders said the bloc’s approach should include “preserving the voluntary nature of EU solidarity measures.” They insisted “any proposal leading to introduction of mandatory and permanent quota for solidarity measures would be unacceptable.”
The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have rejected any quota system for accepting migrants. The four EU leaders said the bloc’s approach should include “preserving the voluntary nature of EU solidarity measures.” They insisted “any proposal leading to introduction of mandatory and permanent quota for solidarity measures would be unacceptable.”
4.46pm BST
4.46pm BST
16:46
16:46
At Keleti station, calm has been restored following the clash between right wing extremists and refugees.
At Keleti station, calm has been restored following the clash between right wing extremists and refugees.
Top of the board in Keleti station a train to Gyor, the town marchers are heading for on foot. Seems senseless pic.twitter.com/GfHg0DavKi
Top of the board in Keleti station a train to Gyor, the town marchers are heading for on foot. Seems senseless pic.twitter.com/GfHg0DavKi
Back at Keleti station there are still so many migrants that it's hard to believe hundreds, maybe thousands left
Back at Keleti station there are still so many migrants that it's hard to believe hundreds, maybe thousands left
"We were sleeping and missed the departure" one family says sadly. The portable toilets have overflowed and stink
"We were sleeping and missed the departure" one family says sadly. The portable toilets have overflowed and stink
Riot police walk through the camp pic.twitter.com/C2SMqM6CaK
Riot police walk through the camp pic.twitter.com/C2SMqM6CaK
4.35pm BST
4.35pm BST
16:35
16:35
John Domokos reports that many Hungarians are handing out food and water to migrants travelling to Austria along the motorway.
John Domokos reports that many Hungarians are handing out food and water to migrants travelling to Austria along the motorway.
Lots of Hungarians out on motorway handing out food and water. Not for first time I am overcome with emotion at the scene
Lots of Hungarians out on motorway handing out food and water. Not for first time I am overcome with emotion at the scene
Budapest march: people are tired, some stop for a rest, some walk on. How will this end? http://t.co/yfNYpIsUTY
Budapest march: people are tired, some stop for a rest, some walk on. How will this end? http://t.co/yfNYpIsUTY
4.26pm BST
4.26pm BST
16:26
16:26
A train pulls into Munich from Budapest 40 minutes late - delayed because around 200 refugees were taken off outside the city to be processed. Phoebe Greenwood mets the new arrivals now coming from Libya via Italy who receive a warm welcome from Munich’s volunteers.
A train pulls into Munich from Budapest 40 minutes late - delayed because around 200 refugees were taken off outside the city to be processed. Phoebe Greenwood mets the new arrivals now coming from Libya via Italy who receive a warm welcome from Munich’s volunteers.
4.22pm BST
4.22pm BST
16:22
16:22
AFP is reporting that Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has offered to buy an island off Greece or Italy and develop it to help hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from Syria and other conflicts. The telecoms tycoon first announced the initiative on Twitter.
AFP is reporting that Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has offered to buy an island off Greece or Italy and develop it to help hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from Syria and other conflicts. The telecoms tycoon first announced the initiative on Twitter.
Greece or Italy sell me an island,ill call its independence and host the migrants and provide jobs for them building their new country
Greece or Italy sell me an island,ill call its independence and host the migrants and provide jobs for them building their new country
Crazy idea .. Maybe but at least temporary until they can return to their countries ??!!
Crazy idea .. Maybe but at least temporary until they can return to their countries ??!!
4.15pm BST
4.15pm BST
16:15
16:15
The governments of Italy, France and Germany have written a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini calling for new rules to end a patchwork of national policies that have sowed division among member states. The letter, seen by Reuters, states that “a more efficient asylum system ... goes hand in hand with a more efficient repatriation policy of irregular migrants.”
The governments of Italy, France and Germany have written a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini calling for new rules to end a patchwork of national policies that have sowed division among member states. The letter, seen by Reuters, states that “a more efficient asylum system ... goes hand in hand with a more efficient repatriation policy of irregular migrants.”
The letter also calls on the EU to agree a list of countries considered safe and whose citizens have fewer rights to claim asylum. This should speed up repatriation and free up time and resources to deal with legitimate asylum applications.
The letter also calls on the EU to agree a list of countries considered safe and whose citizens have fewer rights to claim asylum. This should speed up repatriation and free up time and resources to deal with legitimate asylum applications.
A third proposal is to create an “integrated border management system” which could help to identify, fingerprint and register migrants seeking asylum.
A third proposal is to create an “integrated border management system” which could help to identify, fingerprint and register migrants seeking asylum.
Responding to the letter to Mogherini, the EU’s head of enlargement, Johannes Hahn, said it was “absolutely necessary” to provide EU support to countries dealing with the biggest flow of migrants. “We have to be clear that the European Union has to support those countries particularly affected,” Hahn said.
Responding to the letter to Mogherini, the EU’s head of enlargement, Johannes Hahn, said it was “absolutely necessary” to provide EU support to countries dealing with the biggest flow of migrants. “We have to be clear that the European Union has to support those countries particularly affected,” Hahn said.
4.13pm BST
4.13pm BST
16:13
16:13
Missiles and bottles have been thrown in the last few minutes at at Keleti train station in Budapest, the BBC is reporting. Syrian refugees are shouting: “Freedom, freedom, we want peace.” Some are holding others back as tensions continue to flare.
Missiles and bottles have been thrown in the last few minutes at at Keleti train station in Budapest, the BBC is reporting. Syrian refugees are shouting: “Freedom, freedom, we want peace.” Some are holding others back as tensions continue to flare.
The BBC’s Ben Brown said: “In the last few minutes Hungarian right-wing extremists have thrown fire crackers into what is a makeshift refugee camp at this station. There were two loud explosions. A lot of refugees were understandably frightened and some of the men then chased the far-right extremists, who were skinheads. There were clashes and plastic bottles that were thrown. Riot police were called in.”
The BBC’s Ben Brown said: “In the last few minutes Hungarian right-wing extremists have thrown fire crackers into what is a makeshift refugee camp at this station. There were two loud explosions. A lot of refugees were understandably frightened and some of the men then chased the far-right extremists, who were skinheads. There were clashes and plastic bottles that were thrown. Riot police were called in.”
Updated
Updated
at 4.38pm BST
at 4.38pm BST
4.07pm BST
4.07pm BST
16:07
16:07
Meanwhile, Phoebe Greenwood reports from Munich’s central station, where 500 people have volunteered to help thousands of refugees expected to arrive from Hungary. Colin Turner, a volunteer, shows off a stockpile of food, drink and clothes, but says refugee numbers have tapered because of the actions of the Hungarian authorities.
Meanwhile, Phoebe Greenwood reports from Munich’s central station, where 500 people have volunteered to help thousands of refugees expected to arrive from Hungary. Colin Turner, a volunteer, shows off a stockpile of food, drink and clothes, but says refugee numbers have tapered because of the actions of the Hungarian authorities.
4.06pm BST
4.06pm BST
16:06
16:06
The Guardian’s John Domokos is with the marchers travelling from Hungary to Austria. “It’s hot, people are getting tired, the march is spreading out, but everyone is carrying on toward Austrian border,” he writes.
The Guardian’s John Domokos is with the marchers travelling from Hungary to Austria. “It’s hot, people are getting tired, the march is spreading out, but everyone is carrying on toward Austrian border,” he writes.
3.52pm BST
3.52pm BST
15:52
15:52
ITV’s James Mates is with the “thousands of people” travelling by foot from Budapest to Vienna. He has been Tweeting pictures of the scene. One group of refugees are flying a European flag.
ITV’s James Mates is with the “thousands of people” travelling by foot from Budapest to Vienna. He has been Tweeting pictures of the scene. One group of refugees are flying a European flag.
Hundreds, maybe more than a thousand, refugees now walking along main M1 motorway, #Budapest 'heading for Vienna' pic.twitter.com/qH5FQy9SjP
Hundreds, maybe more than a thousand, refugees now walking along main M1 motorway, #Budapest 'heading for Vienna' pic.twitter.com/qH5FQy9SjP
Many children among them, some in pushchairs. Very hot. Very little water. Horrible, pathetic sight pic.twitter.com/EYQ3eUHBuY
Many children among them, some in pushchairs. Very hot. Very little water. Horrible, pathetic sight pic.twitter.com/EYQ3eUHBuY
Hundreds more now taking shelter in shade motorway bridge. Far too many for police to control pic.twitter.com/NPaky2j1vT
Hundreds more now taking shelter in shade motorway bridge. Far too many for police to control pic.twitter.com/NPaky2j1vT
One group of refugees flying a European flag. Irony not lost... pic.twitter.com/ujZgGTXBFo
One group of refugees flying a European flag. Irony not lost... pic.twitter.com/ujZgGTXBFo
This is the best anyone can do for shade as they set out to walk 200+kms to Vienna pic.twitter.com/ylwvGYwumy
This is the best anyone can do for shade as they set out to walk 200+kms to Vienna pic.twitter.com/ylwvGYwumy
The Exodus from Budapest. Not quite biblical in scale, but a horrible rather tragic sight. pic.twitter.com/d47JtvNF9I
The Exodus from Budapest. Not quite biblical in scale, but a horrible rather tragic sight. pic.twitter.com/d47JtvNF9I
I have underestimated the numbers. There are thousands of people on this road. #Exodus pic.twitter.com/fbfri7kHdv
I have underestimated the numbers. There are thousands of people on this road. #Exodus pic.twitter.com/fbfri7kHdv
3.47pm BST
3.47pm BST
15:47
15:47
The Hungarian parliament has introduced emergency anti-migration laws in response to the record number of refugees and migrants crossing the EU member’s border as they try to reach western Europe. The new measures include:
The Hungarian parliament has introduced emergency anti-migration laws in response to the record number of refugees and migrants crossing the EU member’s border as they try to reach western Europe. The new measures include:
Authorities also declared a “state of crisis caused by mass immigration”, which allows the police and army to assist in registering asylum-applications and operate detention facilities in registration camps.
Authorities also declared a “state of crisis caused by mass immigration”, which allows the police and army to assist in registering asylum-applications and operate detention facilities in registration camps.
3.43pm BST
3.43pm BST
15:43
15:43
Global development correspondent Sam Jones notes a subtle shift in the British government’s approach from Cameron’s words today, as the public mood changes.
Global development correspondent Sam Jones notes a subtle shift in the British government’s approach from Cameron’s words today, as the public mood changes.
Earlier this year, the international development secretary, Justine Greening, rejected suggestions that the UK should be accepting more Syrian refugees. She told Jones on that occasion:
Earlier this year, the international development secretary, Justine Greening, rejected suggestions that the UK should be accepting more Syrian refugees. She told Jones on that occasion:
There’s no denying that what we need to do overwhelmingly is help people where they are. Many of the refugees want, in time, to be able to go back to Syria and it’s right that the overwhelming focus of our support has been on providing help to people in the camps.”
There’s no denying that what we need to do overwhelmingly is help people where they are. Many of the refugees want, in time, to be able to go back to Syria and it’s right that the overwhelming focus of our support has been on providing help to people in the camps.”
Compare and contrast with the prime minister’s language today:
Compare and contrast with the prime minister’s language today:
Given the scale of the crisis and the suffering of people, today I can announce that we will do more, providing resettlement for thousands more Syrian refugees. We will continue with our approach of taking them from the refugee camps. This provides them with a more direct and safe route to the United Kingdom, rather than risking the hazardous journey which has tragically cost so many their lives.
Given the scale of the crisis and the suffering of people, today I can announce that we will do more, providing resettlement for thousands more Syrian refugees. We will continue with our approach of taking them from the refugee camps. This provides them with a more direct and safe route to the United Kingdom, rather than risking the hazardous journey which has tragically cost so many their lives.
3.41pm BST
3.41pm BST
15:41
15:41
Liverpool’s Mayor Joe Anderson has announced that his administration is willing to take in 100 refugees if the Home Office will support them with the necessary resources. In a piece for the New Statesman, Anderson wrote:
Liverpool’s Mayor Joe Anderson has announced that his administration is willing to take in 100 refugees if the Home Office will support them with the necessary resources. In a piece for the New Statesman, Anderson wrote:
I am writing to Home Secretary, Theresa May, to make this offer and suggest that other local authorities do likewise. Individually, the contribution we would need to make is small, but together we can make an enormous difference and prevent any more innocent lives being needlessly lost by people who have already suffered so much. The onus is on every political leader: international, national and local, to step up and alleviate the suffering of these refugees in whatever way we can.
I am writing to Home Secretary, Theresa May, to make this offer and suggest that other local authorities do likewise. Individually, the contribution we would need to make is small, but together we can make an enormous difference and prevent any more innocent lives being needlessly lost by people who have already suffered so much. The onus is on every political leader: international, national and local, to step up and alleviate the suffering of these refugees in whatever way we can.
3.37pm BST
3.37pm BST
15:37
15:37
Alan Travis
Alan Travis
Alan Travis, the Guardian’s home affairs editor, puts David Cameron’s latest aid offer in context.
Alan Travis, the Guardian’s home affairs editor, puts David Cameron’s latest aid offer in context.
David Cameron said his announcement of a further £100 million to help the 4 million refugees in camps Syria and in neighbouring countries would bring the total contribution to over £1 billion. Britain is the second largest bilateral aid donor to help Syrian refugees, after the United States, but the commitment to £1 billion refers to what has been spent over the past four years, not just the current year. In rough terms it will increase the £220 million pounds spent each year since 2012 until this March to about £320 million this financial year.
David Cameron said his announcement of a further £100 million to help the 4 million refugees in camps Syria and in neighbouring countries would bring the total contribution to over £1 billion. Britain is the second largest bilateral aid donor to help Syrian refugees, after the United States, but the commitment to £1 billion refers to what has been spent over the past four years, not just the current year. In rough terms it will increase the £220 million pounds spent each year since 2012 until this March to about £320 million this financial year.
The money has been allocated to agencies such as the UNHCR, Red Cross and other international NGOs. For example it has been used to provide 18 million food rations. Cameron underlined that Britain’s strong commitment to providing aid is designed as part of a strategy to ensure refugees stayed ‘in region’ close to Syria. Ministers in June cited the use of this aid programme as having successfully helped to ensure that only 2% of the 7 million displaced people from Syria had tried to to get to Europe.
The money has been allocated to agencies such as the UNHCR, Red Cross and other international NGOs. For example it has been used to provide 18 million food rations. Cameron underlined that Britain’s strong commitment to providing aid is designed as part of a strategy to ensure refugees stayed ‘in region’ close to Syria. Ministers in June cited the use of this aid programme as having successfully helped to ensure that only 2% of the 7 million displaced people from Syria had tried to to get to Europe.
Updated
Updated
at 3.38pm BST
at 3.38pm BST
3.33pm BST
3.33pm BST
15:33
15:33
Dan Nolan reports seeing hundreds of refugees walking along the motorway west of Budapest.
Dan Nolan reports seeing hundreds of refugees walking along the motorway west of Budapest.
Carrying backpacks men women and children were walking quickly along the hard shoulder, with about a hundred police supervising.
Carrying backpacks men women and children were walking quickly along the hard shoulder, with about a hundred police supervising.
Zain Aidden Alkhwlidi, a 54 year old engineer from Damascus said:
Zain Aidden Alkhwlidi, a 54 year old engineer from Damascus said:
Today I am going to Vienna, tomorrow Germany. I am traveling alone: my family is in Lebanon.
Today I am going to Vienna, tomorrow Germany. I am traveling alone: my family is in Lebanon.
Updated
Updated
at 3.59pm BST
at 3.59pm BST
3.31pm BST
3.31pm BST
15:31
15:31
Nadia Khomami
Nadia Khomami
According to Amnesty International, refugees on the Greek island of Kos were attacked in the early hours of Friday by “thugs” with bats, telling them to “go back to their countries”. Amnesty staff witnessed “a violent attack on refugees” by a group of between 15 and 25 people on the island, the group said in a statement, adding that riot police had used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
According to Amnesty International, refugees on the Greek island of Kos were attacked in the early hours of Friday by “thugs” with bats, telling them to “go back to their countries”. Amnesty staff witnessed “a violent attack on refugees” by a group of between 15 and 25 people on the island, the group said in a statement, adding that riot police had used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Local police denied they had fired tear gas but said pepper spray had been used earlier that night to break up a crowd of around 1,000 people who gathered outside the police station after a row broke out between Syrian and Iraqi migrants. The migrants had thrown stones at officers, a police source said.
Local police denied they had fired tear gas but said pepper spray had been used earlier that night to break up a crowd of around 1,000 people who gathered outside the police station after a row broke out between Syrian and Iraqi migrants. The migrants had thrown stones at officers, a police source said.
3.20pm BST
3.20pm BST
15:20
15:20
More evidence that the march from Budapest to Vienna is gathering numbers.
More evidence that the march from Budapest to Vienna is gathering numbers.
#MigrantMarch moving again towards #Austria. #Budapest pic.twitter.com/ciyZ51YFzr
#MigrantMarch moving again towards #Austria. #Budapest pic.twitter.com/ciyZ51YFzr
3.19pm BST
3.19pm BST
15:19
15:19
Cameron is asked by the Guardian’s Nick Watt whether Britain should omit refugees from net migration targets. No, Cameron replied. He said: “The British public’s view is very sensible. They want to know that taken as a whole our immigration and asylum system and arrangements for allowing people to come to our country are under good control. That is what they want. That is what I want.”
Cameron is asked by the Guardian’s Nick Watt whether Britain should omit refugees from net migration targets. No, Cameron replied. He said: “The British public’s view is very sensible. They want to know that taken as a whole our immigration and asylum system and arrangements for allowing people to come to our country are under good control. That is what they want. That is what I want.”
He added: “Do we distinguish between migrants and refugees? Yes of course we do. We have a very fair asylum system which if you take a 25 year view has always been in the top four or five in Europe of taking people and giving them a new life in Britain. We should be very proud of that.”
He added: “Do we distinguish between migrants and refugees? Yes of course we do. We have a very fair asylum system which if you take a 25 year view has always been in the top four or five in Europe of taking people and giving them a new life in Britain. We should be very proud of that.”
3.14pm BST
15:14
Mona Mahmood has spoken to hundreds of Syrians and Iraqis who have fled war in recent years. She introduces our next refugee story, from Bader Yusuf, a 28-year-old Syrian teacher.
I failed three times to get to Greece as the boats kept capsizing in the sea. I was arrested and put in jail for more than three weeks.
Finally I got to a Greek island. We walked for three hours to get to a police station where we found lots of refugees already in long queues. The police took our details and order us to leave Greece within 48 hours. We took a ship for €47 for each person to get to Athens and then to proceed to the Macedonian borders by bus.
The bus was chased by the Macedonian police as the driver was heading in the wrong direction. The police took us to a police station where there were lots Syrian refugees already arrested for trying to cross the borders.
After 48 hours, we took the train to Serbia where the situation was better. There were lots of ambulances waiting at the borders to help the refugees and provide them with drink and food.
We walked for long hours to end in a mosque where we stayed overnight. When we got to Belgrade we stayed in a hotel that charges €30 and then we headed to the Hungarian border to find smugglers waiting for us. One of the smugglers said to me, “If you want me to take you to Budapest, you need to pay €1000.” We walked in dark forest for endless hours and then took a car to a specific hotel in the capital run by a Japanese woman who said, “I have no rooms for you but you can sleep in the garden after paying €10 for each.
The second day the smuggler came and said, “ If you want to go to Germany, you have to pay €600, you would be taken by a modern cozy bus.” Again we had to agree and could not wait to jump into the bus to get to Germany to apply for asylum and get settled. Shockingly enough when the bus arrived, we found that it did not have any seats and we had to sit on the floor. The driver was over 70 and was drunk, he did not know the right direction either. We had an accident and left the bus in Austria.
We took the train to Germany but we were arrested by the Austrian police who kept us for three days in jail and ordered us either to have our fingerprints taken or apply for asylum. I refused to do either and was kicked back by the police to the Hungarian borders. When I got there, I contacted a smuggler who got me a car with a Syrian family, they wanted to go to Germany too. I paid the smuggler another €600 to guarantee a safe route.
Now, I’m in a camp in Germany with lots of Syrian, Iraqi, Afghani and Pakistani refugees. We have three meals per a day and waiting to be transfer to another camp and to have a date to attend the court and apply for asylum. The Germans are treating us very kindly and proved to be more human than many countries I crossed along my trip to Europe.
3.08pm BST
15:08
A rare piece of good news at the end of a dismal week: the Palestinian asylum seeker who cried during a televised debate with Angela Merkel back in July has been granted temporary leave to stay in Germany, Josie Le Blond reports.
The footage went viral after the teenager called Reem told Merkel that she and her family, who arrived in Rostock from a Lebanese refugee camp four years ago, faced deportation. “I have goals like anyone else. I want to study like them ... it’s very unpleasant to see how others can enjoy life, and I can’t myself,” she said at the time.
3.07pm BST
15:07
Hundreds of migrants broke out of a Hungarian border camp on Friday, Reuters confirms.
Police said they had given chase and halted traffic on a nearby motorway after some 300 migrants fled a crowded reception centre in Roszke on Hungary’s southern border with Serbia.
They said another 2,300 migrants still inside were threatening to break out too, and the MTI state news agency said dozens more had fled a second camp west of Budapest in the town of Bicske.
Hungary says it is enforcing European Union rules that it must register all migrants caught crossing Hungary’s borders, but thousands are refusing and demand they be allowed to continue their journey to western Europe from war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Updated
at 3.07pm BST
3.00pm BST
15:00
Cameron is asked about the numbers involved. “There’s isn’t a number of people that we can take that will bring this crisis to an end,” he said. He said Britain is a “moral country” but let’s not pretend that resettlement will solve the problem, he said..
He refused to be drawn on whether Britain will intervene in Syria.
“As a father you can’t help being moved by these terrible pictures,” he said. But he said he wanted to send a message that the best way out of Syria is not to take a perilous journey out of refugee camps.
Updated
at 3.02pm BST
2.54pm BST
14:54
Cameron pledges an extra £100m in aid
Cameron confirms Britain’s plans to resettle “thousands more” Syrians. He again refuses to give details until next week. But he pledges an extra £100m in humanitarian aid.
Updated
at 2.56pm BST
2.47pm BST
14:47
Speaking through a BBC translator, Rajoy says Europe can’t refuse requests for asylum. “The way we address the issue of migration needs to be comprehensive. We have have a European-wide plan,” he says. This needs to go hand-in-hand with tackling human trafficking, he says.
2.40pm BST
14:40
David Cameron is holding a press conference in Madrid with his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy.
2.36pm BST
14:36
Back in Munich, Phoebe Greenwood finds volunteers inundated with donations - but fewer and fewer refugees coming through because of the actions of Hungarian authorities further south.
Colin Turner, a volunteer, shows off a formidable stockpile of food, drink and clothes, but adds that refugee numbers have tapered.
“The big trains aren’t coming through any more because the Hungarians aren’t letting them on,” he says.
2.35pm BST
14:35
Matthew Taylor
The mayor of Calais met a group of protesters who had marched from the Jungle to the Town hall in the French town this afternoon, writes Matthew Taylor.
Natacha Bouchart said she was doing all she could to improve living conditions in the camp but said the power to make real improvements lay with the French and UK governments.
One of the demonstrators Hassan Akkad, 26, from Syria described how he and his friends had travelled through 15 countries and survived their boat capsizing between Turkey and Greece to try and get to the UK.
“If we could go anywhere else we would but we have familiy in the UK... I need to be with them. We have risked so much to get here and every night I try but it is so dangerous. The UK now says it will take Syrians from Turkey or Lebannon but not here. Why are they making me risk my life to be with my family when I know I should get asylum if I get there?”
Hassan was one of about 100 protesters who marched from the jungle camp - home to about 3000 people who have fled war, poverty and persecution beyond Europes borders.
In the past two months at least 10 people have died and hundreds injured trying to stow away on trains or lorries bound for the UK.
Organisers of today’s March said many of those in the camp had begun a hunger strike in protest at the worsening conditions and the risks they were forced to take to get to the UK.
Mayor of Calais has come out to meet protesters in front of town hall. pic.twitter.com/LMTGcxMSLx
Updated
at 2.43pm BST
2.32pm BST
14:32
'Clarification' on 4,000 figure
The UNHCR may have spoken out of turn when it said Britain was prepared to take 4,000 Syrians as part of Cameron’s commitment to take in “thousands more”.
It has issued issued a statement clarifying that it had not received confirmation of the number of additional refugees to be taken by the UK.
The statement said: “UNHCR welcomes the prime minister’s announcement to resettle thousands more Syrian refugees to the UK.
“The number of Syrians to be resettled has not been confirmed by UNHCR. We look forward to receiving further details on the exact figures and will continue to work closely with the Government on ensuring safe legal routes to the UK for some of the most vulnerable Syrians living in refugee camps.”
Earlier the UNHCR’s chief spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: “We obviously welcome very much the move to increase resettlement spaces for Syrians in the UK. Those spaces are going to be critical to the lives and future of 4,000 people.”
2.25pm BST
14:25
Tory backbencher Glyn Davies, the MP for Montgomeryshire, suggests UK should accept an extra 15,000 asylum seekers.
In a blogpost he writes:
What has nauseated me most has been the behaviour of the media over the last couple of weeks. We have been inundated with anti-migrant headlines for years. During the election, it was the top issue, even in Montgomeryshire, driven in part by media frenzy. For the whole of last week, there was one subject leading the news - the failure of the Govt to bring down net immigration ...
The reporting confused economic migrants with refugees (and it’s the latter that lose out).
The events of last few days has not changed my original view. The British people want a significant number of refugees to be allowed into our country to settle. While I’m not convinced it will improve the position overall, I do think it’s worth allowing say 15000 to move here - though I make no suggestion how they should be chosen. It may help. It’s almost impossible to decide what to do for the best. I just think the British people want to do something to help beyond the magnificent work the UK Govt has been doing supporting refugees near their home countries (which is where the solution lies). Anyway, I do think we should allow some to come in.
2.16pm BST
14:16
The number of people joining the march on Vienna from Budapest is growing according to John Domokos and Emma Graham-Harrison.
Budapest March is moving again. 'We have nothing left to do but walk', one Syrian family told me
Has Europe seen such a sad column of refugees, young and old marching with all they have left, since the Balkans war? pic.twitter.com/OuvhpRGOwl
Racing to catch up with the main column, beautiful Danube is just another painful obstacle for these Syrian women pic.twitter.com/htdhUdk18S
"Just one kilometre? We are people too" a teacher from Damascus who fell behind begs for a lift for her children. http://t.co/tXkevMl5S2
Those being held in Bicske are threatening to join the march tomorrow.
The road the march is taking seems to go near the town of Biscke where authorities stopped a train and tried to divert refugees to a camp
2.08pm BST
14:08
A wood recycling centre in Bristol has turned itself into a aid centre for donations to help refugees in Calais. The centre has been open for several weeks – but it has been inundated with supplies since the photograph of drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi was published.
2.06pm BST
14:06
A top UN official has called the crisis a “human atrocity” - and come up with a more subtle, and worrying, explanation for the cause.
Philippe Douste-Blazy, who advises the UN secretary general on innovative financing for development, told the Guardian’s global development correspondent Sam Jones that it all goes back to poverty.
“The wave was 10cm high two years ago. Now it’s about 40cm high. But for your children, it will be 30 metres high. Why? Because 2 billion people in the world earn less than $1.25 a day.
The difference between now and 20 years ago is that everybody looks at everybody now – it’s the globalisation of the economy and the globalisation of communications: internet, TV, radio. It’s very new.”
2.01pm BST
14:01
Humanitarian agency’s have warned that Cameron’s pledge to resettle thousands more Syrians falls well short of what is needed.
ActionAid’s head of humanitarian Response Mike Noyes said: “The promise that the UK will only take 4000 refugees, if correct, is nowhere near enough. It is the equivalent of only six refugees per parliamentary constituency and represents only 0.1% of the total number of Syrian refugees.
“The government has been a leading donor to the humanitarian response in Syria – but this is no excuse for dragging its feet on re-settling refugees. We need them to offer a response that is significant enough in size and speed to make a real difference and provide hope to refugees facing the most desperate circumstances.”
Save the Children CEO, Justin Forsyth, said: “We need a level of ambition that matches the scale of the challenge. With more than four million refugees living in appalling conditions in the region the government should name a figure – at least 10,000 – of the number of Syrians we will take in. The UK should also be offering to rehome 3,000 of the unaccompanied children who have already come to Europe on their own from across the Middle East and Africa.
“Even if we play our part in resettling thousands of refugees, unless EU leaders take comprehensive action the reality is that desperate people will continue to risk their lives to come to Europe – and hundreds of thousands of people are already here.
“European ministers are meeting on the 14 September and we need them to agree to a five point plan including resettlement targets, greater aid to the countries refugees flee from, maintaining search and rescue operations at sea and setting up a proper system of safe routes to Europe and reception centres for asylum seekers. This is a moment of decision for our nation and our continent about who we want to be and how we treat those in need.”
Updated
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1.53pm BST
13:53
And on that thorny subject of the European response, Helena Smith has been following the EU migration chief’s visit to Kos, scene of tragedy this week.
She writes:
He came, he spoke and he left. The visit to Kos by EU migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos may have been hotly anticipated but it has ended up being a bit of a damp squib. Local officials are more than a little disappointed that the man in charge of EU migration policy did almost nothing that he was expected to do. Neither the walk-about that he had promised nor the visit to a rescue boat run by officials with the Frontex border agency took place. “Maybe he was upset with the protests with which he was welcomed,” said one asking that he not be named. “It’s very disappointing.”
Accompanied by EU vice president Frans Timmermans, Avramopolos did not say anything new either. Speaking to reporters after holding talks with Giorgos Kyritsis, the island’s mayor, he said the Commission had 442 million euro at its disposal to come up with an EU wide policy to handle the crisis. “Europe is here, every effort will be made to confront this issue.”
Earlier, Timmermans said that the crisis can only be sorted jointly by Europe and criticised national governments’ resistance to a unified policy
“Some still believe they can do it alone or be left to the side. Impossible,” Timmermans said. The countries of the EU were under legal obligations to provide sanctuary to refugees fleeing war and persecution. “If we forget this, we forget who we are and we leave Europe to the xenophobes who will destroy it.”
1.47pm BST
13:47
Migrants involved in standoff in the Hungarian town of Bicske have said they will join a march to Vienna that started earlier in Budapest if they continue to be held in the town.
The group said the would leave for Germany on foot on Saturday if a train they borded on Thursday was not allowed to continue its journey, a Reuters witness reported.
Several hundred migrants left Budapest’s main rail station on Friday, telling police they were leaving the country on foot after authoritiesbarred them from boarding trains.
Earlier a group of 64 migrants broke out of a reception camp near the town of Bicske.
About 300 people broke out of a camp near the Serbian border earlier in the day.
Updated
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1.39pm BST
13:39
Migration correspondent Patrick Kingsley tells us, with the aid of a few charts, why this crisis has become so acute right now. To summarise:
#1. Syria’s conflict increasingly looks like war-without-end. The millions waiting it out in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon are coming to the view that they’ll never go back and need permanent solutions.
#2. The UN is running out of cash to help people. Here’s a chart that shows UNHCR’s funding shortfall for Syrians.
#3. The crisis is only a crisis because of the European response to it. EU countries have spent all year debating and procrastinating about an appropriate solution to Europe’s biggest refugee movement since the second world war.
The chart above shows the problem: a few countries are bearing the brunt, while at least a dozen others take in virtually no one. Any attempt to parcel out refugees to all 28 EU countries in proportion to the size of their populations is being resisted by those where there is a deep-seated apprehension about becoming “overrun” by refugees.
1.34pm BST
13:34
Clashes in Lesbos
Migrants and refugees have clashed with the security forces during angry protest on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Greece’s Coast Guard and police used of stun grenades to deal with the uprising. Around 1,000 Afghans tried to occupy Blue Star 1 ferry shouting “Athens- Athens”. An occupation was avoided when the ferry’s gates closed.
Spyros Galinos, the mayor of Lesbos, appealed for “immediate measures” to help alleviate crisis. described the situation as a bomb about to explode in his hands.
Galinos said he had proposed extra ferries as well as charter flights to defuse the overcrowding on the island. “I don’t need one ship, I need a fleet,” he said.
Updated
at 1.56pm BST
1.20pm BST
13:20
A GuardianWitness contributor - Istvan - just sent in this video of refugees starting their walk from Budapest to Vienna.
He writes:
“I filmed them between 12:00 and 12:10 BTS, at Blaha Lujzatér, Budapest. They are now on the other side of the Danube, taking a rest on Gellért Hill.
I am Hungarian and I’m spending the summer here, but otherwise live in Britain. I’ve volunteered to help as a translator at Keleti about a week ago.”
Migrants walking from Budapest to Vienna?
A group of illegal migrants marching in the centre of Budapest, after they had announced they would walk to Vienna, Austria (~150 miles), instead of waiting for being allowed to take the train to Germany.
Sent via Guardian Witness
By isallai
4 September 2015, 12:45
Updated
at 2.40pm BST
1.17pm BST
13:17
John Domokos
John Domokos in Budapest says the march to Austria is still underway, despite reports by AP that it had petered out.
Hundreds if not thousands of people are now marching out of Budapest for the border, he said. “I’m near the back. There are hundreds of people here at least, and they are still walking,” he said.
More are joining, according to Emma Graham-Harrison.
Refugees race down a motorway to join the main column pic.twitter.com/5Suw8cP669
Updated
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1.13pm BST
13:13
Matthew Taylor
That demonstration in Calais has now arrived at the town hall, writes Matthew Taylor.
Around a hundred protesters chanted “Freedom” and “Liberty” as police and officials looked on from behind locked doors.
The protesters are demanding more humane living conditions and the right to apply for asylum in the UK without risking their lives.
Updated
at 1.22pm BST
1.05pm BST
13:05
Here’s a summary of where things currently stand.
Updated
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12.49pm BST
12:49
Hungary shuts border crossing with Serbia
Hungary has shut its main border crossing with Serbia after about 300 migrants escaped from a nearby refugee camp, police said.
“In the interest of preventing accidents, the police have temporarily closed the Roszke motorway border crossing to incoming traffic and are redirecting traffic to (a national road),” police said in statement, according to AFP.
The move came after around 300 people broke through a fence of a nearby refugee camp.
“The police have taken the necessary steps to apprehend them,” police said.
12.42pm BST
12:42
Migrants stranded in Budapest march on Austria
People stranded in Budapest have begun to march to Austria after days of being refused train travel out of Hungary.
Refugee on crutches falls behind the march so his friends carry him pic.twitter.com/Q9jlrtyvBo
Mahmoud, 22, from Damascus just set off on foot (and crutches) for the Austrian border from #Keleti http://t.co/aUAkJgwRO8
Hundreds of frustrated refugees stuck at Keleti train station gathered up their belongings Friday and vowed to make their way to Vienna on foot, according to AP.
But the protest was short-lived after whistling and marching around the station they settled back down to continue a wait that has dragged on for days.
Updated
at 12.47pm BST
12.41pm BST
12:41
And while we’re on the subject of great human beings who want to help, Phoebe Greenwood has been inside the biggest refugee centre in Bavaria, talking to the man who is using football as a way to bring bewildered people closer to the country that they have ended up in.
The brains behind the idea, Rudi Heid, said German attitudes have shifted towards refugees. “We are aware we are living in one boat.”
Coach Mera Abraham, a former Ethiopian top-flight footballer, adds; “Many people are coming. They are stressed and they have something to relieve the stress and come together.”
Updated
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12.32pm BST
12:32
For every mean-spirited headline about “migrant swarms” or “bogus asylum seekers” there are thousands of generous Europeans who recognise suffering when they see it and want to make a difference.
Alexandra Topping has been to Bristol to a drop-in centre where dozens of people visit for reassurance and hot food:
At The Bristol Refugee Rights drop-in centre, a group of young men played a raucous game of pool, while a slightly more pensive group was huddled around a game of scrabble. In one corner volunteers provided aid and advocacy to those seeking asylum here, while at the back of the hall - beneath a vast mural of Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman and Marcus Garvey - a “free shop” kitted people out in donated clothes and shoes.
Had a brilliant day at @BristolRefugeeR, speaking to refugees and volunteers under the shadow this incredible mural pic.twitter.com/Ab6wV5z16U
There were a record number on the day I visited - with 118 people passing through the doors for a bit of company and a hot meal. The people who come to here aren’t called “service users” or “clients” but members, explains Matt Bass, manager of the Welcome Centre. They often work alongside local Bristolian volunteers in the kitchen or giving advice to those who have just arrived.
According to Bass, numbers have been steadily increasing in recent months - with more people from Syria and Eritrea in particular using the service. Numbers of volunteers are also increasing, he says.
“The images they are seeing are terrifying and they want to do something about it,” Bass said. “There is an vast untapped level of empathy, and if we can harness it then we can translate it into political change. We are facing a terrible desperate situation but unfortunately the political action we need so people are taking things into their own hands - they are giving up their own time and money. This welcome centre would simple not happen if it wasn’t for those volunteers.”
Elsewhere, scores of Britons are taking matters into their own hands by shuttling goods and medicines down to Calais, where thousands are languishing in a makeshift camp.
Jon Henley and Harriet Grant have been in touch with have-a-go Brits as they take matters into their own hands.
Carmen Fishwick has been talking to people across Europe who, dissatisfied by their governments’ response, are finding their own ways to support refugees in their country.
Wendy, 45, from Tyrol, Austria:
We need to provide basic items that give people self-respect. I’ve donated what I can: two large bags of clothing, three bags of linen as well as unused hair grips, bobbles, toothbrushes and soaps to a private centre for Syrians in Landeck, Tyrol. They urgently need underwear, socks, and blankets as more people come off the trains each day. Majority of local people are fearful. I can only see desperate and traumatized people. How can anyone turn them away? You can see their fear and loss in their eyes.”
Nynne, 34, from Copenhagen, Denmark:
“I volunteer for a private initiative that’s sending a container from Copenhagen to Lesbos in Greece to be handed out to stranded refugees. The initiative started small but grew big through social media. There are now several containers and trucks headed for Lesbos due to the huge amount of donations. It has been amazing to see that despite a majority of fearful Danes who voted for the right wing government there are still many people out here showing compassion. Refugees are mostly just people like you and me who have been unlucky to live in a country where war has broken out. I’d want somebody to do the same for me. ”
Ruth, 47, from Joachimsthal, Germany :
I donate clothes and household items through the local church. I also help run a cultural centre called Kulturhaus Heidekrug 2.0 and make sure that all refugees have free entry to our events. If I see any of the refugees in town, I say hello and ask how they are and whether they have any problems I might be able to help them solve. You don’t have to be part of a big organisation or charity to help. Refugees face many hurdles once in Germany and helping on a one-to-one basis is important.”
Monika, 42, Budapest, Hungary:
I’ve been taking food, water, diapers – there are a lot of children and babies among the refugees – to the railway stations. Yesterday, we didn’t even reach the Migration Aid help points with our donations, they were literally ripped from our hands. People there don’t have the most basic things or medical support so they are entirely dependant on local people’s donations and help. Basically civilians are doing what should be the government’s job. But if I am in the position to help anyone who is in need I’ll do it. It’s our moral duty.”
And finally Nabeelah Shabbir has discovered an enterprising group who have set up an online phrasebook for refugees in Germany, translating phrases such as “I need to sleep”, “ I don’t feel well,” and “I am pregnant” from a number of languages into German.
Updated
at 12.34pm BST
12.32pm BST
12:32
Jungle camp hunger strike
Matthew Taylor
Hundreds of people living in the Jungle camp in Calais having fled persecution and poverty in their own countries have gone on hunger strike, writes Matthew Taylor.
A group of more than 100 Eritreans, Syrians and Sudanese people marched from the camp towards Calais town centre this morning carrying banners and chanting “freedom, freedom.”
Mohammed, 30, from Sudan said people were becoming increasingly fearful.
“We decided to go on hungerstrike yesterday because we can not live like this. There is no security here. The environment is terrible and we are hungry all the time.”
He said those living in the camp wanted the right to apply for asylum without risking their lives.
“People are dying or being injured everyday trying to get to the UK. We want to be able to claim asylum without having to jump on lorries or moving trains. We can’t go in like this.”
He claimed hundreds of people in the camp had joined the hungerstrike.
“We have not eaten since yesterday because we want people to understand this situation.”
Updated
at 12.43pm BST
12.06pm BST
12:06
'We've let refugees in before, we can do it again'
Owen Jones
Guardian columnist and author Owen Jones issues an impassioned plea for a grass-roots movement to save lives and offer refugees sanctuary in Britain.
Jones urges people to write to their MPs urging a recall of parliament to debate why Britain has so far let in so few people, and calls for a mass turnout for a pro-refugee solidarity march on September 12.
Updated
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12.03pm BST
12:03
Kurdi family funeral
Mark Tran
Pictures have emerged of the funeral of Aylan Kurdi the Syrian boy who drowned with his brother and mother while trying to reach Greece.
Abdullah Kurdi, their father, wept as Aylan body was buried alongside his brother Ghalib and mother Rehan.
Speaking at the border crossing, Kurdi said he hoped the death of his family would encourage Arab states to help Syrian refugees.
“I want from Arab governments - not European countries - to see (what happened to) my children, and because of them to help people,” he said in footage posted online by a local radio station.
The three bodies were flown to a city near Turkey’s border with Syria, from where police-protected funeral vehicles made their way to the border town of Suruc and crossed into Kobani.
MPs from Turkey accompanied Abdullah Kurdi to Kobani, the scene of fierce fighting between Islamic State insurgents and Kurdish forces earlier this year. Journalists and well-wishers were stopped at a checkpoint about three kilometres (two miles) from the border.
Unlike other refugees heading for Europe, the Kurdi family had lived in Turkey for three years before deciding to repatriate to Canada, where Abdullah’s sister had for several years attempted – and failed – to sponsor their asylum claim.
These pics are heartbreaking. #AlanKurdi, Ghalib Kurdi & mom now burried in #Kobane, same town they were trying 2flee pic.twitter.com/rrbDsrT7GN
Updated
at 12.10pm BST
11.55am BST
11:55
Sturgeon: Scotland should accept 1,000 refugees as first step
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she is “encouraged” by Cameron’s shift in policy on accepting more refugees. But speaking in Edinburgh she says she wants to see more details and says the resettlement programme is not sufficient to tackle the scale of the crisis. She said the difference between Germany and Britain’s approach “couldn’t be more stark”.
Sturgeon said she had written to Cameron’s saying: “We recognise the need for longterm coordinated action to tackle the causes but that cannot be a substitute for an immediate humanitarian response.”
She said Scotland should accept 1,000 refugee as a “first step” not as cap or limit.
She added: “Our approach will be judged by history. When the world is looking for leadership, courage and a simple display of common humanity, we will be found standing eagerly at the front of the queue.”
11.48am BST
11:48
Correspondent Dan Nolan in Hungary has been following this week’s chaos as thousands of refugees try to pass through to Germany and Austria. He caught up with our next refugee, Tariq, who has walked the length of entire countries, and travelled further than most - all the way from Pakistan to a reception centre at Biscke near Budapest.
“I saw 13 people fall dead on this journey, with my own eyes. I have travelled to Hungary from Karachi for 35 days, running, walking, in taxis and on boats. There was no food and many problems on this route. I left Pakistan because of politics. My father and grandfather were politicians, but when politics was over, we were in trouble. Some of my family have been killed. My father was killed. My uncle was killed.
Me and two friends left Karachi and went through the Makran hills, Iran. I ran across Iran for five days. Iran is very dangerous. I saw three people die in the Makran hills. The border soldiers shoot at you.many countries have problems: Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, but the most dangerous country was Iran. Two of my friends got arrested in Iran: that is a very dangerous place. In Turkey and Iran, no one helped.
Altogether it took 12 days to cross Turkey, walking, running, and sometimes with taxis. In Turkey my money ran out. I lived in the wild for five days without food and water.
We travelled through Istanbul and Bodrum. Then we took a boat to Kos. I saw nine people drown, with my own eyes. We never got food or water. Until Kos, no one helped me. I watched a whole group of people leave in a boat, children and women, but the boat leaned over and they drowned, and they never came back. That was 15 days ago.
From Kos it took five days to get to Athens. Then we walked to Macedonia. That was the only time that people helped us. Walking and running from Macedonia to Hungary took 10 days. A UN agency gave us food and water in Macedonia and Serbia. They were the only people who were nice to me on my route.
11.40am BST
11:40
Every refugee’s journey is different, but some similar threads are starting to emerge. Syrian Reda Al Wali, 28, arrived in Austria six months ago, and tells Maddy French in Vienna his story.
I flew to Turkey, where a friend was going to Austria so I came too. I travelled by ship to Greece. The people were friendly there and helpful. I tried to leave Athens several times. First by myself, then with smugglers.
We were divided into two vans. One distracted police so the second could continue. The people inside were so afraid. I called my friend to say I think I will die because the van is going so fast.
After they were stopped by police in Macedonia, Reda says he stayed for three months in a place “like a prison”.
There were 50 to 100 people in small rooms. Then the police took me to an open camp and after one day I left. I walked nine hours to Serbia in half-a-metre of snow. The smuggler leading us then was a 13-year-old boy. We were walking to buses to smuggle us to Belgrade but the snow was so cold I couldn’t complete the walk and bought a normal bus ticket. It normally costs 10 Euros but the driver charged me 60 Euros when he realised I was Syrian.
From Belgrade I got taxis to Budapest. The whole journey cost nearly 8,000 euros. The most I paid to a smuggler was 1,500 Euros to a man called ‘Palestinian Jamal’. If I could go back, I wouldn’t want to do the journey again but you have no choice.”
11.35am BST
11:35
Britain to take 4,000 more Syrians
The UN refugee agency has revealed that Britain will take a further 4,000 Syrian refugees from camps in the Middle East.
“We obviously welcome very much the move to increase resettlement spaces for Syrians in the UK. Those spaces are going to be critical to the lives and future of 4,000 people,” spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told AP.
“We certainly believe that there’s the momentum here” for other countries to follow suit.
Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron said only that his country would accept “thousands” more people, on top of the 5,000 already announced, and would give details next week.
A spokeswoman in the 10 Downing Street press office refused to confirm or deny the figure of 4,000, saying that no specifics would be provided until next week. She declined to be identified in line with government policy.
11.34am BST
11:34
Mark Rice-Oxley
The Council of Europe has just been in touch to say that it will shortly issue guidance to its 47 member states “on the treatment of migrants including reception, living conditions and special safeguards for children and women”, to help ensure that states respect their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
I’ve just checked to see if Hungary is a member of the Council of Europe. Seems it is, just about.
11.32am BST
11:32
Greece’s coast guard says it has rescued hundreds of refugees and migrants from the sea near the eastern Aegean islands, according to AP, as thousands more Syrian arrived at the port of Piraeus.
The coast guard said it picked up 535 people in 12 incidents off the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Agathonissi, Kalolymnos and Kos from Thursday morning to Friday morning. That doesn’t include hundreds who make it to the islands from the nearby Turkish coast themselves, AP reports.
11.26am BST
11:26
Matthew Taylor
A steady stream of cars and vans have been arriving at the Jungle camp outside Calais most with donated clothes or equipment for the people living here, writes Matthew Taylor.
A line of about 20 men and women queued at the back of one van where secondhand clothes were being handed out.
“It helps,” said Hussain, from Syria, who was given a fleece hooded top. “It has been getting colder and I am out all night trying to get onto trains or trucks.”
Hussain who has been in the Jungle for two months after fleeing his war torn country last year said he was grateful for the help - this time from a local French Catholic organisation. But he said life in the jungle remained perilous.
“It is dangerous trying to get to UK and people are getting hurt or killed. But the option is to live like this or keep trying... We can’t go home.”
11.20am BST
11:20
Here’s video of Cameron’s pledge to resettle thousands more Syrians.
11.19am BST
11:19
A Syrian woman describes her family’s journey from war-torn Homs, through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary in the hope of reaching Germany. Hamza, an English teacher, tells the BBC’s Matthew Price her family survived near-drowning, tear-gas and pursuit by police in their journey to find safety.
11.17am BST
11:17
While we’re on the subject of refugee numbers, promises, warnings and scaremongering, this piece by Patrick Kingsley is worth re-reading for some basic facts. Did you know, for example, that the number of refugees in the UK has actually fallen by 75,000 since 2011
11.17am BST
11:17
More than 5,000 migrants a day have crossed Aegean Sea into Greece in last week, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
The largest group are Syrians, followed by Afghans. They mainly include men, families with children, and minors accompanied by close relatives. Many of the families, especially the Afghans, include pregnant women and new-borns.
On Monday according to IOM staff on the island of Kos, the Hellenic Police estimated that there were approximately 4,000 migrants on the island – of whom 2,000 had yet to be identified.
The authorities and civil society are trying to provide basic services, including healthcare and food. But tensions are rising between the Kos authorities and the central government, with the local authorities making it clear that they lack the resources to support all the new arrivals.
The municipality has withdrawn its offer of Kos’ stadium to provide temporary accommodation for the migrants. Many Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Egyptians are now being housed at an abandoned hotel – the “Captain Elias”. Many Syrians are opting for alternative accommodation, according to IOM staff on the island.
IOM Greece staff on Kos are working with the local authorities to identify and coordinate assistance to the most vulnerable migrants. They are also distributing bottled mineral water and food to the migrants on arrival.
In the past week, over 5000 #migrants & #refugees a day crossed the Aegean Sea into Greece http://t.co/hz3rzEMbRV pic.twitter.com/RlNkymvjLx
11.08am BST
11:08
Here’s the full text of Cameron’s statement.
The clip earlier missed this segment:
Migration is clearly the biggest challenge facing countries across Europe today. In the first 6 months of this year, more than 220,000 people were detected crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.
And in July alone, over 100,000 people made this journey, 3 times higher than the number last year. These people come from different countries and different circumstances.
We know that many are Syrians fleeing the conflict that has raged across their country, that has killed over 220,000 and has forced more than 11 million people to flee their homes. They now face 2 enemies at home – Assad and ISIL.
Britain has a moral responsibility to help refugees as we have done throughout our history. We are already are providing sanctuary and we will continue to do so.
As the second largest bilateral donor to the crisis, we have provided over £900 million in aid to help those affected in Syria and the region – we have funded shelter, food, water and vital medical supplies for millions of desperate refugees fleeing the conflict and helping them to survive in the countries around Syria, like Jordan and Lebanon.
No European country has done more than Britain in this regard. Were it not for that massive aid, the numbers making the perilous journey to Europe today would be even higher.
Updated
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11.04am BST
11:04
EU migration chief heckled in Kos
Helena Smith
Back in the eastern Mediterranean, the much anticipated visited to the Greek island of Kos this morning by the man in charge of Europe’s EU migration policy has got off to a rocky start, Helena Smith reports.
This will not have been the welcome the EU’s commissioner for migration perhaps expected when he arrived in Kos today.
But Dimitris Avramopoulos, who happens to be Greek, was the butt of angry protests as he made his way to the island’s seafront town hall this morning for talks with mayor Giorgos Kyritsis. Locals, enraged by what they have described as uncontrollable waves of “illegal immigrants” landing on their shores, screamed “traitors, get out of here” and “collaborators you have destroyed our country.”
A café owner, standing outside the heavily guarded town hall, shouted: “we have 7,000 loaded hunting rifles.” Last night, right wing extremists attacked refugees barely meters away from the island’s police station sending at least one to hospital with serious injuries.
Avramopoulos, who is visiting the island with the EU’s vice president Frans Timmermans, has flown into Kos to discuss relief measures for Greek islands on the frontline of the crisis. Yannis Mouzalas, the minister in charge of migration in Athens’ caretaken government, will also be attending the talks.
Kos along with Lesvos has received the brunt of the refugees. “Around 1,000 per night are arriving, “ Roberto Mignone, the United Nations refugee agency’s emergency coordinator on the island, told the Guardian this morning.
Mignone said it was urgent a reception and centre was set up on Kos as soon as possible to expedite registration of refugees.
“We really hope Mr Avramopoulos’ visit will deblock the obstacles to establishing a reception and registration centre [so] that we can set up temporary housing units,” he said. “For the past three weeks I have been trying to negotiate by all possible means a solution where refugees can be accommodated with dignity but we have not received even one square meter from the authorities to do this.”
Updated
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11.02am BST
11:02
At least 30 migrants are feared to have drowned off Libya, according to AFP, citing the International Organisation for Migration.
#BREAKING At least 30 migrants feared drowned off Libya: IOM
10.59am BST
10:59
Just to put Cameron’s promise of “thousands more” into context...
10.51am BST
10:51
In his Lisbon statement Cameron said: “We have already accepted around 5,000 Syrians and we have introduced a specific resettlement scheme ... to help those Syrian refugees particularly at risk. As I said earlier this week, we will accept thousands more under these existing schemes and we keep them under review. And given the scale of the crisis ... today I can announce that we will do more, providing resettlement for thousands more Syrian refugees. We will continue with our approach of taking them from the refugee camps. This provides them with a more direct and safe route to the UK, rather than risking the hazardous journey which has tragically cost so many of their lives. We will set our more details next week.
“We will continue to work with partners to tackle the conflict in Syria, to provide support to the region, to go after the smuggling gangs exploiting these people, and we will continue to save lives at sea.”
Cameron said British ships had rescued 6,700 people from the Mediterranean. He added: “Britain will act with our head and our heart, providing refuge for those in need while working on long term solutions to this crisis. That means bringing to an end the conflicts that are driving so many to flee, including the bloodbath that has engulfed Syria.”
PM: Migration is the biggest challenge facing countries in Europe today & Britain has a moral responsibility to help refugees #Syria
Updated
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10:33
Our next refugee is Ashraf, a 17-year-old from Yemen, who spoke with Alexandra Topping in Bristol yesterday. Ashraf did not want his picture taken.
The nadir of the journey had come in Macedonia when the boys and two other friends were attacked by mafia.
They caught us and beat us up, they put a …”, here he mimics a man putting a gun to his head, “we gave everything, everything, phones, sleepings bags, all our money.
Sometimes along the way people would give us food and water. One week we ate a tub of nutella, just the nutella between four of us for a week. I survived. I made it here.”
Ashraf said he and his 14-year-old brother endured a journey that went Yemen-Turkey-Greece-Macedonia-Serbia-Hungary-Austrai-Germany-France before he arrived in the UK. Now Ashraf and his brother are with foster carers, who he says are very kind. He hopes to start college to learn English next week, and has joined a local boxing club.
I like Bristol a lot. I have made friends, they are nice people, everything is ok here. When I came here I was treated well. I can forget about all the past.
10.30am BST
10:30
Cameron confirms help for 'thousands more'
David Cameron is making a speech in Lisbon. He confirms that Britain will do more to settle “thousands more” Syrian refugees. More details will be set out next week, he said.
“Britain will act with our head and our heart” he says and insists that the focus should be on ending the conflict in Syria.
10.22am BST
10:22
The Slovenian President Borut Pahor has arrived in Budapest for talks on the migration crisis with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban.
Before the meeting Orban said he feared Europeans becoming a “a minority in our own continent.”
“Today we are talking about tens of thousands but next year we will be talking about millions and this has no end,” he said (see earlier).
Updated
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10.13am BST
10:13
The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, has expanded on his call for Europe to accept 200,000 more refugees.
In a statement he said: “The situation requires a massive common effort that is not possible with the current fragmented approach.”
He praised the “selfless generosity of private citizens and civil society organisations” but urged governments to do more and criticised Europe’s overall failure. “Europe is facing a moment of truth. This is the time to reaffirm the values upon which it was built,” he said. He urged European leaders remember these six fundamental points:
10.08am BST
10:08
What Syrians bring with them on their journey to Europe
Some refugees come to Europe with little more than the clothes they stand up in. Patrick Kingsley, the Guardian’s migration correspondent, has been asking some what they have brought with them on their journey of no return.
Patrick writes:
Of all the bits and bobs crammed into 35-year-old former army officer Abu Jana’s bag, little says as much about his trip as the laser pen. The lemons suggest he expects to get seasick: his wife reckons the bitter juice will ward off the worst of the nausea. The plastic bag and the roll of tape mean he expects to get splashed: together they’ll make a watertight pocket to hold his documents.But the laser pen tells us that he knows he risks drowning. If in the dead of night, he is bobbing around in the waves, he wants passing ships to be able to find him – which is where a green laser might come in useful. “Maybe someone can see it, and could help us,” he says.
9.55am BST
09:55
The Hungarian police force has put out a new video showing the arrest of a man charged with smuggling a Syrian family into Hungary. It said the family of six “illegal immigrants” paid the man €200 each to reach Budapest. The 37-year-old man referred to as “Elek” was arrested on motorway in Domaszék. The family are shown being driven away.
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09:54
And just to put that chart in context for a quick moment - this is how Europe compares to other countries that have taken in Syrians since the civil war erupted in 2011
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09:49
Europe is trying to thrash out how to share out thousands of needy refugees among 28 member states. David Cameron is expected later today to indicate what Britain will do to increase its rather modest intake so far.
Meanwhile Ireland’s prime minister Enda Kenny has said this morning that it may accept up to 2,000 additional refugees, even though like the UK it would not be obliged to do so under an EU-wide deal because it has an opt-out, Henry McDonald reports.
“Ireland can cope with more than already taken,” the Taoiseach said. The Irish Premier also criticised his Hungarian counterpart over his warnings about Muslims overwhelming Europe and threatening its Christian roots.Kenny added: “One of the founding principles of the EU is the free movement of people, we respect that absolutely and completely.“That movement has to be irrespective of colour or creed, I disagree with the emphasis that Viktor Orban has put on that.”
Ireland and the UK have a long way to go to reach parity with some of Europe’s more generous nations such as Sweden and Germany, as this chart shows:
9.40am BST
09:40
We want to hear experiences from refugees who’ve made the journey across the Mediterranean this summer as well as their friends and families. You can share them with us via WhatsApp by adding the contact +44 (0) 7867 825056 and starting your message with refugees, or by contributing to GuardianWitness.
We also want to hear from you if you’ve been involved in supporting or organising help for refugees. Share your story here and we will feature some of your experiences in our reporting.
9.38am BST
09:38
Helena Smith has been on the beaches of southern Turkey writing about the tragedy of the Kurdi family this week. This morning, she reports that the bodies of the Syrian toddler, Aylan Kurdi, and his brother and mother are now making their final journey home to Kobani:
Accompanied by Abdullah Kurdi, the sole survivor of the tragedy that has encapsulated the enormous risks refugees are now taking to reach Europe, the caskets of the three drowned Syrians were flown from Istanbul to the southeastern Turkish town of Urfa this morning.
From there, they will be taken to Kobani for burial this weekend. Speaking to reporters in the Mugla on Thursday, where forensic pathologists conducted autopsies on 12 Syrians who lost their lives attempting to reach the Greek island of Kos in the early hours of Wednesday, Abdullah said: “I don’t want anything else from the world. Everything I was dreaming of is gone. I want to bury my children and sit beside them until they die.”
On Thursday, Nilufer Demir, the Turkish photographer who took the pictures of Aylan on the beach, said while she wished she had never taken it she hoped it had given voice to the thousands who daily risk their lives to get to the west.
Oguz Poyraz, who runs Bodrum’s local television station, said no other image had so “summed up” the grave dangers now being experienced by thousands on refugees in the otherwise emerald waters of Turkey’s enchanting shores.
“For seven months, now, we have been reporting on this crisis and nobody has listened,” Poyraz, who presides over the Kent media group, said. “Every night there are literally hundreds getting in boats on our shores in a bid to reach Greece. This picture, so tragic and so true, has summed it up like never before. Hopefully now the world will listen.”
Updated
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9.37am BST
09:37
Matthew Taylor, who has reported on the situation in Calais extensively over the past year says the size of the makeshift migrant camp is growing.
The camp, known as the jungle, has grown since my last visit a couple of weeks ago with scores of new tents and wood framed shacks crowded onto scrubland a couple of miles outside the town.
Approaching the Jungle there was also evidence of the authorities’ security drive with miles of new security fencing lining the motorways around the camp, EuroTunnel and port.
But this morning as people began to emerge from their tents it did not seem that these measures were putting off many new arrivals.
Muhammed, 46, from Darfur in Sudan, arrived yesterday. Waiting in line at one of the jungle’s water points this morning he described his journey. “I left in January and crossed the desert then the sea. It was very dangerous, many did not make it,” he said.
Asked why he left Sudan he said: “I had no choice the government made it difficult for my family. My wife is here too. We just want somewhere safe... Maybe we can stay in France. We are going to try.”
Parts of the jungle have flooded by recent heavy rain and many people complained conditions were worsening.
“It is getting cooler at night and everything is wet,” said Adil, 21, from Sudan. “People are trying but it is difficult living like this.”
Updated
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9.31am BST
09:31
The eye of the refugee storm has moved, over the past 12 months, from Italy and Greece north to Germany, where heroic attempts to make refugees welcome have been tempered by occasional outbreaks of hostility towards new arrivals. Josie le Blond, reports on the latest this morning from Berlin:
Five injured in refugee hostel blaze
Five people were injured, one seriously, in a fire at a refugee home overnight in western Germany. One man was seriously hurt jumping out of a second floor window to escape the blaze, others were being treated for smoke inhalation. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire, which broke out at around 1.30 am in the centre in Heppenheim south of Frankfurt. The shelter was housing more than 60 refugees from Syria, Iraq, Eritrea, and Somalia. Fire fighters said the fire has left the building uninhabitable. Over 250 attacks on refugee homes have been registered in Germany this year, but this is the first to cause injuries.
300,000 extra homes needed?
Germany will need to find hundreds of thousands of extra homes for refugees every year, authorities estimated on Friday. With winter approaching fast, an accommodation crisis is already looming in many German regions, where many refugees have been put up in temporary outdoor shelters. To address this, Germany will need to build an extra 300,000 homes every year for the foreseeable future Eva Lohse, president of the German Association of Cities and Towns told the Rheinische Post newspaper on Friday. Germany estimates it will see over 800,000 refugees apply for asylum by the end of the year.
9.26am BST
09:26
The Hungarian Police force has put out video showing migrants and asylum seekers refusing offers of food and water at Bicske railway station. Men are shown throwing and kicking packs of bottled water onto the track. Some of the children accept packets of food from police women dressed in surgical masks, but men refuse to take the packs.
9.16am BST
09:16
Differing comments from Tory MPs demonstrate the pressure David Cameron is under. Some in his party want him to continue to refuse to increase the number of asylum seekers Britain accepts, while others want him to show more compassion.
Our immigration policy must be decided by reason – not by photos and hashtags says @PaulGoodmanCH I agree. http://t.co/arJ5tUO7bm
Proud that PM @David_Cameron to announce UK will do our bit for Syrian refugees. #CompassionateCons. Refugees not same as economic migrants.
9.06am BST
09:06
Patrick Kingsley
Patrick Kingsley reports on people from Eritrea taking their first steps in Europe as a rescue boat with 993 people on board docks in Italy.
Italian police and @frontexeu on the boat. Conducting a cack-handed search. Separating Eritrean Arabic speakers from the rest.
Arabic-speaking Eritreans booted off the boat first. @MSF_Sea want nothing to do with this pic.twitter.com/NbicY0Nh5v
First you get numbered. Immediately quantified. Then someone takes your temperature. pic.twitter.com/tyqpvKCF1o
Then a health team checks your glands. pic.twitter.com/rcGpYIs0BZ
Then it's off to the buses, and then to a camp pic.twitter.com/LIhN4K9RiI
The view onboard. The boat rescued 993 ppl. 130 were offloaded to an Italian boat a day ago. Still a while to wait pic.twitter.com/6sspEgajVF
Yes. A morgue. They've had to carry back corpses before. But not this time. Meanwhile, here's a birdseye of the shore pic.twitter.com/1NkAZLZMju
8.55am BST
08:55
Putin blames US foreign policy in the Middle East
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has blamed the crisis on the US policies in the Middle East, according to the Russian news agency Tass.
It reported him saying that the crisis is rooted in the wrong foreign policy that the West and namely the United States conducts in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Putin is quoted as saying: “What is this policy about? This is imposing its standards without taking into consideration historic, religious, national and cultural specifics of these regions. This is first of all, the policy of our American partners.”
Tass added: Putin said he was surprised how the US mass media criticise Europe for cruelty against migrants. He stressed that the US is not affected by this migrant flow while Europe, which blindly follows Washington’s instructions, suffers the most.
8.43am BST
08:43
Refugees faces fordmidable adversaries on the route to Europe, from the waves of the Mediterranean to the police forces of the Balkans and central Europe, as our next interviewee, a 25-year-old Syrian called Fade, tells Sofia Papadopolou, a Guardian contributor based in Thessaloniki.
The hardest thing of the trip was when we had to take the boat from the Turkish to the Greek coast. We were 11 people squeezed on a small rubber boat, no longer than 3.5 meters long. There was a young boy with us and you could easily recognise fear in his eyes. I kept watching him all through the journey and he was looking right back at me as if he was telling me: “please, don’t let me die here”. Waves kept crashing into the boat and the only thing on my mind at that time was how I could save him or keep him warm if things went wrong…”
If the sea was bad, the reception in Europe was not much better.
“We were walking for about three hours through Hungary when we suddenly saw the police. We started running into the forest and hided ourselves behind the trees. We managed to escape and somehow we made it to Budapest. From there, I took the train to Munich but in Austria the police caught me and they sent me to prison. I stayed in for two days and then I was sent back to Hungary. I had to spend two more days imprisoned there before they let me go. This time though I didn’t take the train. I took a taxi so as to be safe”.
Fade finally made it to Germany but he didn’t have enough money to continue his journey so he decided to show up at a police station.
I told them that I am a Syrian and I need help. They sent me to the central camp in Frankfurt, where I am now, waiting for my new life to start”.
Fade had to take a difficult and dangerous trip to Europe but when asked If he would do it all over again if he had to, he says “yes” with no hesitation.
The only thing I would change is the boat trip from the Turkish to the Greek coast. It was a nightmare. I saw death there and I would never want to live such a moment this again in my life”.
Updated
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8.39am BST
08:39
The Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison has been speaking to some of the hundreds of people at Budapest’s Keleti station trying to get to Germany.
"My family is waiting for me." One of hundreds trapped in Budapest station pic.twitter.com/DxswbUhr5f
8.34am BST
08:34
Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has called for a “paradigm shift” in Britain’s response to the crisis.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today’s programme after meeting the Pope to discuss the issue, Mirvis said: “We have a responsibility now because currently there are tens of thousands of people who are knocking on the door of Europe. And if we don’t do something in this humanitarian crisis, God forbid, there will be a deeper loss of life.”
Pressed on how the government should respond, Mirvis said: “What I am saying is there needs to be a paradigm shift with regard to mindset. For far too long we have related to these suffering individuals as if they are people who are living on Mars. Thanks to that desperately sad and tragic image [of Aylan Kurdi’s body] it has moved our hearts. When we heard that 70 people lost their lives in a truck it didn’t do the trick. It is the image of that boy which has brought us to our senses. And now we desperately need to respond adequately ...
“It is not for me to be prescribing numbers. We definitely need to do far more.”
8.18am BST
08:18
Orban: 'Europeans risk becoming a minority'
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, remains defiant on his country’s hardline anti-immigrant stance, with a waring that Europeans risk becoming a minority on their own continent.
“The reality is that Europe is threatened by a mass inflow of people, many tens of millions of people could come to Europe,” Reuters quoted in telling a public radio station.
He added: “Now we talk about hundreds of thousands but next year we will talk about millions and there is no end to this. All of a sudden we will see that we are in minority in our own continent.”
“Hungary cannot ignore Schengen rules in its procedures,” said Orban, referring to Europe’s zone of passport-free travel.
“Migrants must cooperate with Hungarian authorities, with the German authorities and if Germany wants to admit Syrians, it should issue permission for them to go into Germany.”
Orban said the new measures being debated by parliament would be implemented later this month.
“Everyone should be prepared for this: Serbia, Macedonia, the immigrants, the human traffickers. We ourselves will prepare for this, and a different era will start from 15 September.”
8.09am BST
08:09
Through the day we’ll be hearing from individual refugees about their extraordinary journeys. Some, like the Kurdi family, risked all in hopeless boats. Others have walked the length of countries and haven’t slept in a bed for months.
Mohamad Hesham Moadamani’s tale is instructive. The 24-year-old Syrian spent six hours trying to swim from Turkey to Greece before being rescued by a boat. It was just the beginning, as he told Kate Connolly, the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent.
They gave us papers and we went to Athens and from there to Thessaloniki. From there we had a long walk. We reached the Macedonian border at 3am. Our feet were really cut and sore.
We managed to get into Serbia and from there had to think of how we’d cross Hungary without being obliged to apply for asylum there.
We booked tickets for a bus to the border. After spending a night in the forest, we changed into fresh clothes so we wouldn’t look like migrants. But we were picked up by the Hungarian police and taken to jail in Budapest. That night they let us go.
A taxi agreed to take us for €500 per person from Budapest to Germany. After two hours we were in Germany. After just a few metres we were met by the police, who immediately arrested our drivers and asked us: “Are you Syrians?” We said yes we are. “You are welcome to Germany,” they told us. They were smiling and I felt relaxed and safe. Finally I’m in Germany, living in Lübeck and waiting to get a residency permit and to start learning German so that I can pursue my education and find better opportunities.
8.07am BST
08:07
Patrick Kingsley
Our migration correspondent, Patrick Kingsley, has set out 10 ways to manage the crisis. Here’s the first:
1) Establish a standard asylum procedure across Europe
The reason this summer’s migration crisis has slowly spread from the islands of Greece to the sports halls of Germany, via Austria’s motorways and Hungary’s train stations, is because some European countries treat refugees more humanely than others. As a result, refugees are aiming for the places that will give them the most stability. Sweden offers indefinite residence to Syrians, while other nations don’t, for instance, while some countries are faster at reuniting children with parents who have gone on ahead to seek asylum.
So the best way to ensure refugees don’t hop between European countries is not to build fences, which encourages more dangerous forms of smuggling, but to ensure that the asylum system in every EU state operates to the same high standards, gives refugees the same level of benefits and grants the same length of residency. A common policy would also ensure that refugees were distributed proportionally throughout the EU. As it is some countries, particularly Greece and Italy, share a disproportionately large of the burden of the crisis.
But such a move would be resisted by most European countries as many politicians believe it would cost them political capital at home.
Read the other nine suggestions here.
Updated
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8.02am BST
08:02
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed “the whole Western world” for the drowning of Aylan Kurdi and his family. In an interview with CNN he said:
“To be honest, the whole Western world is to be blamed in my opinion on this issue. When I saw that picture, it was in a family setting, unfortunately, and my children and my grandchildren, they saw the picture at the same time as me.”
“When we saw it, we were devastated and we asked the question of ourselves: Where is humanity? Where is the conscience of humanity that a child – and it’s not the first time this is happening. ... Many children, mothers, fathers unfortunately have been drowned in the rough waters of the Mediterranean.”
Updated
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7.44am BST
07:44
Welcome to special live coverage of Europe’s deepening migration crisis amid an increasingly fraught debate about how to tackle it, and dire warnings about the scale of the problem.
We will have regular updates on the unfolding crisis from our team of reporters dispatched to various flashpoints across Europe. We’ll hear from our migration correspondent Patrick Kingsley on his way to southern Italy after a stint on a Mediterranean rescue boat; Matthew Taylor on his latest trip to Calais; Phoebe Greenwood with video updates from Munich on the grass roots campaigns offering help; Dan Nolan in Bickse where the Hungarian authorities are in a standoff with hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers trying to get to Germany; and Helena Smith in Kos the Greek island which three-year-old Aylan Kurdi was trying to reach when he drowned along with his brother and mother.
The crisis is set to dominate a series of high level European meetings today, including a gathering of the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and David Cameron’s meeting with his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy. Our political correspondent Nicholas Watt is travelling with the prime minister.
Meanwile, here’s a roundup of the latest developments:
