The railway track that thousands of refugees have followed from Serbia to Hungary and the European Union was blocked Monday after weeks of threats by the Hungarian government that it would close its border with Serbia.
The movement of a few dozen troops and a the erection of a few more metres of fence crushed the dreams of thousands of refugees. Tens of thousands are already on route from southern Europe, through the Balkans, most with plans to reach Germany.
But now a chain-link fence, lined with two strips of razor wire stands in their way. Behind it, units of Hungarian army and police.
Groups continue to follow the tracks, only to find the route blocked. Some head along the fence trying to find another way in.
The UN refugee agency has said a fence is not a solution to a refugee crisis but Hungary has publicly disagreed and started this barrier months ago.
A few hundred meters from the fence, aid workers and volunteers take down tents and collect garbage. Until this afternoon this field was a holding area where often over a thousand refugees would wait to board buses for camps.
“Are you hungry?” shouts a volunteer at a group of journalists. There are no more refugees here to feed. No one seemed to know exactly when the border would close or what that would mean, so volunteers have prepared food for hundreds.
A few kilometers down the road from the border, police stop cars and check papers. Until now, hundreds of people would cross the border undetected and then sneak into the fields of tall corn stalks and make their way to Austria. It seems that will now also come to an end.
Hungarian officials say that anyone that tries to break the fence or pass the border irregularly could be arrested and possibly deported.
Hungary’s closure of the border came after a number of E.U. countries, including Austria and the Netherlands tightened restriction on their borders, effectively suspending the principles of the Schengen zone, the European free movement agreement. Even Germany, where refugees have been welcomed, began checking cars and passports coming in from Austria.
See the Children Caught in Europe's Refugee Crisis
Syrian refugee Raed Alabdou, 24, holds his one-month old daughter Roa'a, while he and his wife hide in a field not to be seen by Hungarian policemen, after they crossed the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, southern Hungary, on Sept. 11, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APBara'ah Alhammadi, 10, a Syrian refugee, is carried on the back of her father as they make their way along a railway track after they crossed the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, on Sept. 11, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APA man carrying his daughter on his shoulder walks on a railway toward a makeshift camp for asylum seekers in Roszke, on Sept. 10, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APSyrian refugee Hussein Sbaih, 18, center, carries his cousin Saifuallah, 7, whose legs are broken, after they crossed the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, on Sept. 11, 2015.Muhammed Muheisen—APSyrian refugee child Zaid Hussein, 4, is held by his mother while sitting inside their tent at a makeshift camp for asylum seekers in Roszke, on Sept. 11, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APIraqi refugee Umm Fadil tends to her crying son Ahmad, 41 days, while resting by a railway track after they crossed the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, on Sept. 11, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APSyrian refugee child Jana Makkiyeh, 3, whose family comes from Damascus, Syria, holds a teddy bear while standing near her family's tent at a makeshift camp for asylum seekers in Roszke, on Sept. 10, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APA Syrian refugee child looks out of a bus that will take him and his family to the center for asylum seekers near Roszke, on Sept. 11, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—AP
Europe has been divided on how to deal with the massive influx. E.U. interior ministers met on Monday in Brussels but failed to come up with a comprehensive solution for what has become the one of the worst refugee crises faced by the continent since World War II. They agreed to redistribute 40,000 refugees from Greece and Italy—the countries that have served as the first stop for refugees, but there are 100,000s more to accommodate.
Around 180,000 have crossed into Hungary this year alone, and while Hungary has implemented its new restrictions, there are thousands still en route to this frontier of the E.U.
Volunteers at the Hungarian border say there has been an increase in refugee numbers as people have rushed through the Balkans, fearing a frontier closure.
“We saw on television that Hungary would close its border on September 15. We saw they were passing new laws,” said Ahmed Abdul Khader as he crossed into Hungary from Serbia on Sunday with his family.
They traveled from Damascus and it seems just in time. Just 24 hours later this border is shut and for many that means they will be stuck in Serbia, a non-E.U. country.
Hungary says it will continue to accept refugees who present themselves at official crossing points and has promised to speed up the process of assessing asylum requests.
Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban sees his country as the gatekeeper for Christian Europe and has said few claims will be accepted.
“Given that the Hungarian government considers Serbia a safe country,” he told Hungarian TV. “… if someone is a refugee, we will ask them whether they have submitted an asylum request in Serbia.”
These Photos Show the Massive Scale of Europe’s Migrant Crisis
Syrian and Afghan refugees warm themselves and dry their clothes around a fire after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, early on Oct. 7, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APA migrant who recently arrived across the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey, watching a ferry in the port of Mytilene, Lesbos island, Greece, on Oct. 5, 2015.Zoltan Balogh—EPAAn Afghan wades to the shore after arriving in an overloaded rubber dinghy on the coast near Skala Sikaminias, Lesbos island, Greece, Oct. 1, 2015. Filip Singer—EPASyrian refugees are covered with life blankets upon arriving to the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Sept. 28, 2015. Aris Messinis—AFP/Getty ImagesMigrants and refugees arrive on Sykamia beach, west of the port of Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Sept. 22, 2015. Iakovos Hatzistavrou—AFP/Getty ImagesMigrants and refugees board a train by climbing through the windows as they try to avoid a police barrier at the station in Tovarnik, Croatia, on Sept. 20, 2015. Manu Brabo—APA Syrian refugee boy cries while he and his family try to board a train at the station in Tovarnik, Croatia, on Sept. 20, 2015.Manu Brabo—APA migrant holds his child during a clash with Hungarian riot police at the Horgos border crossing in Serbia, on Sept. 16, 2015.Sergey Ponomarev—The New York Times/ReduxMigrants sleep on a highway in front of a barrier at the border with Hungary near the village of Horgos, Serbia, on Sept. 16, 2015. Marko Djurica—ReutersA wagon equipped with razor wire is placed at the border between Hungary and Serbia in Roszke, some 10 miles southeast from Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 14, 2015, to close the gap of the temporary border fence at the Horgos-Szeged railway line. Balazs Mohai—EPAA refugee reacts from exhaustion while swimming towards the shore after a dinghy carrying Syrian and Afghan refugees before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos, on Sept. 13, 2015. Alkis Konstantinidis—ReutersSyrian people sleep inside a greenhouse at a makeshift camp for asylum seekers near Roszke, southern Hungary, on Sept. 13, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APSyrian refugee Raed Alabdou, 24, holds his one-month old daughter Roa'a, while he and his wife hide in a field not to be seen by Hungarian policemen, after they crossed the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, southern Hungary, on Sept. 11, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—APMigrants and refugees beg Macedonian police to allow passage to cross the border from Greece into Macedonia during a rainstorm, near the Greek village of Idomeni, on Sept. 10, 2015. Yannis Behrakis—ReutersMigrants run over a motorway from a collection point that had been set up to transport people to camps in Morahalom, Hungary, on Sept. 9, 2015.Dan Kitwood—Getty ImagesA young Syrian man from Damascus tries to evade the Hungarian police by sneaking through a forest close to the Serbian border in Morahalom, Hungary, on Sept. 8, 2015. Dan Kitwood—Getty ImagesMigrants cross into Hungary as they walk over railroad tracks at the Serbian border with Hungary in Horgas, Serbia, on Sept. 7, 2015.Dan Kitwood— Getty ImagesA refugee from Syria prays after arriving on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos aboard an inflatable dinghy across the Aegean Sea from Turkey, on Sept. 7, 2015. Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty ImagesA migrant scrambles to climb back aboard a rubber dinghy full of his fellow Syrians as they try to cross from Turkey to the Greek islands on their way to claim asylum in the European Union, late on Sept. 6, 2015.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA Syrian migrant aboard a flimsy rubber motorboat hands his one-month-old baby to Greek coast guards, who have arrived to rescue the boat full of migrants from dangerous waters near the border between Greece and Turkey, early on Sept. 7, 2015.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA young Syrian boy is wrapped with a thermal blanket as he arrives with others at the coast on a dinghy after crossing from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos, Greece, on Sept. 7, 2015.Petros Giannakouris—APRefugees and migrants wait to cross the border from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia, on Sept. 7, 2015. Giannis Papanikos—APMigrants walk along rail tracks as they arrive to a collection point in the village of Roszke, Hungary, on Sept. 6, 2015.Marko Djurica—ReutersMigrant families ride a train from Gevgelija to the Serbian border in Macedonia, on Sept. 4, 2015.Dan Kitwood—Getty ImagesMigrants crowd the bridge of the Norwegian Siem Pilot ship sailing along the Mediterranean sea, on Sept. 2, 2015. Gregorio Borgia—APA Turkish gendarme carries the body of Alan Kurdi, 3, who drowned along with his brother Galip, 5, and their mother, in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos, in the coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, on Sept. 2, 2015.ReutersDozens of refugee families, mostly from Syria, camped near the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary on Sept. 2, 2015.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA Syrian migrant bids farewell to the Hungarian volunteers who welcomed him upon his arrival in the European Union in Szeged, Hungary on Aug. 30, 2015.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA father of a migrants family is arrested by the local police near the village of Roszke on the Hungarian-Serbian border on Aug. 28, 2015.Attila Kisbender—AFP/Getty ImagesSyrian migrants cross under a fence as they enter Hungary at the border with Serbia, near Roszke, on Aug. 27, 2015. Bernadett Szabo—ReutersHungarian soldiers install a wire fence at the border between Hungary and Serbia near Hercegszanto, 115 miles southeast from Budapest, on Aug. 25, 2015. Tamas Soki—EPAA little girl from Syria looks out of a bus as the ferry she arrived in is reflected in the bus window at the port of Piraeus, Greece, on Aug. 25, 2015. Petros Giannakouris—APChildren cry as migrants waiting on the Greek side of the border break through a cordon of Macedonian special police forces to cross into Macedonia, near the southern city of Gevgelija, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on Aug. 21, 2015.Georgi Licovski—EPAGendarmerie attempt to prevent people from entering the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais, France on July 30, 2015.Rob Stothard—Getty ImagesLife vests and a deflated dinghy are seen on a beach on the Greek island of Kos, following the arrival of Afghan immigrants, on May 30, 2015.Yannis Behrakis—Reuters
