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| First refugees head for Croatia after Hungary's border crackdown – live updates | First refugees head for Croatia after Hungary's border crackdown – live updates |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 8.44am BST08:44 | |
| Dozens of Hungarian lawyers have signed a protest letter against Hungary’s border crackdown. | |
| It said the new laws which criminalise migration and involve fast track deportation to Serbia flout the “dignity of the legal profession”. | |
| 88 #Hungary-an lawyers (@indexhu's lawyer too) sign a petition&protest the #Hungary-an govt's refugee-punishing laws https://t.co/vk0hrYELzx | |
| 8.35am BST08:35 | |
| Austria starts border controls | |
| Austria has begun selective controls of vehicles at three main border crossings with Hungary, AP reports. | |
| Police say the controls, in effect since early Wednesday, may be extended to 10 crossings, with vehicles being stopped selectively for checks of passports and other travel documents. | |
| Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner has said that Syrians and others in danger in their home countries can continue to ask for asylum in Austria. She says they will also be free to travel on to Germany, as has been the case up to now. | |
| 8.25am BST08:25 | |
| Hundreds of stranded refugees and asylum seekers have spent the night at Hungary’s seal border crossing with Serbia between Horgos and Roszke. | |
| An AFP reporter talked to some of those at the border: | |
| “Why are they doing this?” asked an Afghan woman holding a child on the Serbian side of the fence where some 300 people gathered, some searching in vain for an opening, as Hungarian riot police watched them from the other side. | |
| “It was really bad last night,” said Bashir, a 17-year-old Afghan schoolboy who had arrived an hour after the border closed. “It was cold, particularly for families with little babies,” he told AFP. | |
| The Balkan state’s minister for refugees, Aleksandar Vulin, urged Hungary to reopen its border, “at least for women and children”, speaking to AFP at the Horgos crossing, where around 100 people were waiting for the frontier to reopen. | |
| 8.18am BST08:18 | |
| Croatia confirms migrants entering from Serbia | |
| The Croatian police have confirmed they are registering migrants entering from Serbia and warned they will transport them to reception centres near the capital Zagreb. | |
| A police spokesman in the eastern border county of Vukovarsko-Srijemska said an unspecified number of migrants had crossed into Croatia, after a Reuters cameraman saw at least 100 walking through fields across the border. | |
| A group of 30-40 mostly Syrian or Afghan nationals arrived at the Serbian town of Sid near the Croatian border early in the morning on Wednesday, according to Al-Jazeera. | |
| They had travelled by bus from the Macedonian border at Presevo, 500km to the south. | |
| Among the mixed group of men, women and children of all ages was Amadou, 35, from Mauritania in western Africa. | |
| “We heard that Hungary was closed so the police told us we should come this way,” he said. “We don’t know what we should do now. Do we have to catch a boat?” | |
| He was pleased to hear there was no water to cross and it was only about 10km to the border. He was also surprised to hear the group was thought to be the first to attempt this route into northern Europe. | |
| First refugees arrive at Croatian frontier, carving out new route after Hungary seals borders. http://t.co/RJj2TO0WXC pic.twitter.com/6CUpsmkWIa | |
| Overnight Croatia warned that it would not allow migrants to “move through” the country en route to western Europe. | |
| 7.58am BST07:58 | 7.58am BST07:58 |
| Summary | Summary |
| Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the escalating refugee crisis across Europe. | Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the escalating refugee crisis across Europe. |
| Here’s a round of the latest developments: | Here’s a round of the latest developments: |
| Tuesday’s events in “Fortress Europe” were neatly summed up by the Guardian’s migration correspondent Patrick Kingsley. | Tuesday’s events in “Fortress Europe” were neatly summed up by the Guardian’s migration correspondent Patrick Kingsley. |
| First Hungary blocked its southern border with Serbia, putting into action its much-heralded fence, declaring a state of emergency in two southern counties, and arresting dozens of people for attempting to cross the border under new laws unveiled last week by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán. | First Hungary blocked its southern border with Serbia, putting into action its much-heralded fence, declaring a state of emergency in two southern counties, and arresting dozens of people for attempting to cross the border under new laws unveiled last week by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán. |
| Next Hungary announced plans to seal its border with Romania, a move denounced as “not a fair gesture” by the foreign ministry in Bucharest. Then Serbia warned it could not become the dumping ground for Europe’s refugees – or, as its foreign minister put it, “a collection centre”. And finally Austria introduced security checks along its border with Hungary, a measure it said could be extended to those with Slovenia, Italy and Slovakia if needed. | Next Hungary announced plans to seal its border with Romania, a move denounced as “not a fair gesture” by the foreign ministry in Bucharest. Then Serbia warned it could not become the dumping ground for Europe’s refugees – or, as its foreign minister put it, “a collection centre”. And finally Austria introduced security checks along its border with Hungary, a measure it said could be extended to those with Slovenia, Italy and Slovakia if needed. |