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Migrant crisis: Hungary buses migrants to Austria border | |
(34 minutes later) | |
Hungary has sent buses to transport migrants to Austria's border after more than 1,000 began walking there earlier. | |
The BBC's Matthew Price reported late on Friday evening that buses had arrived on the roadside and that one had left carrying migrants to Austria. | |
The migrants left Budapest station on foot after a stand-off with police, defying official efforts to take them to reception centres and register them. | |
European Union states are struggling to agree on how to deal with the crisis. | European Union states are struggling to agree on how to deal with the crisis. |
Earlier on Friday another group of migrants escaped along railway tracks in Bicske, to the west, from a train stopped by police. | |
The surprise announcement by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff late on Friday night followed several days of chaotic scenes. | The surprise announcement by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff late on Friday night followed several days of chaotic scenes. |
Janos Lazar said Hungary would offer buses to those walking along the main motorway to Vienna, as well as to migrants still at Budapest's Keleti railway station. | Janos Lazar said Hungary would offer buses to those walking along the main motorway to Vienna, as well as to migrants still at Budapest's Keleti railway station. |
The buses would take people to Hegyeshalom, on the border with Austria. | The buses would take people to Hegyeshalom, on the border with Austria. |
"We are taking this step so Hungary's transportation is not paralysed during the next 24 hours," Mr Lazar said, according to the Associated Press news agency. | "We are taking this step so Hungary's transportation is not paralysed during the next 24 hours," Mr Lazar said, according to the Associated Press news agency. |
An Austrian interior ministry statement (in German) said that the police and the Red Cross were standing ready to receive the migrants. | |
They would have the opportunity to apply for asylum in Austria, the statement said. | |
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said in a Facebook post (in German) that Germany was also willing to receive them. | |
The BBC's Matthew Price, walking with the migrants, said that as night fell, many continued to walk, but others - including a family with five children - appeared to stop for the night on the hard shoulder, or in adjacent fields. | The BBC's Matthew Price, walking with the migrants, said that as night fell, many continued to walk, but others - including a family with five children - appeared to stop for the night on the hard shoulder, or in adjacent fields. |
Hungary has become a major transit nation for people fleeing the Middle East and Africa, seeking to reach north and west Europe. | Hungary has become a major transit nation for people fleeing the Middle East and Africa, seeking to reach north and west Europe. |
Also on Friday: | Also on Friday: |