Hungary moves to seal border with serbia

Budapest - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
warned on Friday that anyone trespassing his
country's border with Serbia starting next week
will be "immediately arrested", and slammed
Greece for not doing enough to protect its
frontiers.
"We will not courteously accompany them as [we
have been doing] until now," Orban said, as he
spoke about tens of thousands of migrants and
refugees who have already crossed over, and
equal number who are moving across the Balkans
towards Hungary.
"If Greece does not protect its borders, then we
must do it," he told reporters in Budapest.
Hungary is a key transit route for migrants and
refugees - a majority of who are fleeing war in
Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - who reach the Greek
islands and mainland from Turkey, travel on to
Macedonia and Serbia, and hope to cross Hungary
to seek asylum in Western European countries.
A new law comes into effect in Hungary on
Tuesday, making illegal border crossing a criminal
act punishable by up to three years in prison.
Cutting the newly erected fence carries up to five
years.
The same day the government will decide on
whether to declare a crisis situation because of
the influx of thousands of mostly Middle Eastern
refugees each day.
Hungarian Defence Minister Istvan Simicsko said
3 800 soldiers have been sent to accelerate the
completion of a fence along the country's 175km
border with Serbia.
The first task is to complete the 4-metre-high
fence, which currently extends along parts of the
border, while the rest is secured by coils of razor
wire.
Simicsko told TV2 channel that the army will help
secure that frontier. "We need a stronger defence
at the border, the fence alone is not enough," he
said.
On September 21, the Hungarian parliament will
debate whether to allow the military to patrol the
border alongside police.
Muslims
Despite the menacing presence of the razor-wire
barricade, the number of people crossing over
from Serbia into Hungary has steadily grown in
recent weeks - from 1 000 each day to 2 500 to 3
000 a day. On Thursday alone, 3 601 refugees
were registered, setting a new daily high for the
second consecutive day.
Orban has maintained a tough stance against
migrants and refugees, saying his country does
not want to take in Muslims.
But the mass movement of people has continued,
in the cold and rain, by foot, in trains and buses,
with thousands of men, women and children
waiting in punishing conditions for permission to
enter Macedonia from Greece and then find a ride
to Tabanovce, 200km north on the Serbian
border.
On Thursday, about 4 000 people made the trip
north on trains, buses and taxis. But train drivers
went on strike on Friday and there may be no
trains at all on Saturday to shuttle migrants, Sitel
TV reported.
From Macedonia, the refugees typically trek
across Serbia and reach the Hungarian fence in
about two days.
"Since the start of the year, 116 000 refugees
were registered, but we suspect that the number
is at least twice as high," UNHCR spokesperson
Melita Sunjic told dpa in Serbia.
She estimated that the reception centre in
Presevo, on the border with Macedonia, can
process 1 500 arrivals a day, but that many more
have passed through the town.
"It can be said that a quarter-million people
passed through Serbia this year," Sunjic said. "We
estimate that there are 12 000 refugees in Serbia
at any given moment."
Heavy rains and a sharp drop in temperatures on
Thursday in Belgrade forced most of the refugees
and migrants waiting for a ride to the Hungarian
border to seek shelter elsewhere, as the two
parks where they set makeshift camps turned into
mud pools.
Children
The long and arduous journey has taken its toll,
particularly on children. Already suffering cuts,
abrasion and wounds after walking for weeks, the
change in weather means that worse is likely to
come, doctors warned.
"More children are coming now with stomach
infections that they catch along the way," a Nis
military hospital internist, Aleksandar Jovanovic,
told Serbian state TV RTS.
"Apart from stomach problems, we saw skin and
respiratory infections," said Nevena Jovicic of the
Belgrade University children's clinic.
UNHCR says more than 80% of the people
crossing Serbia are Syrians fleeing war, with large
numbers also of Iraqis and Afghans.
The Interior Ministry in Vienna said on Friday that
16 000 refugees have crossed the Hungarian
border into Austria. Most continued to Germany.
Austrian railway company OeBB has said that
cross-border service between Hungary and
Austria will remain suspended over the weekend
because trains and train stations in eastern
Austria have become overcrowded with arriving
migrants en route to Germany.