Refugees start arriving in Germany after Hungary ordeal - Al Jazeera English
Refugees start arriving in Germany after Hungary ordeal
Austria and Germany open their borders to thousands of refugees who have been stranded in Hungary.
05 Sep 2015 17:33 GMT |
Humanitarian crises,
Europe,
Refugees,
Hungary
The first of thousands of exhausted refugees expected to arrive in Germany within days have started to arrive in the German city of Munich after boarding special trains from Austria's Vienna.
Around 1,600 people who were trying to reach western Europe but spent the past few days trapped in Hungary have arrived in Munich since early Saturday morning.
By the end of the day, 3,000 people were expected to have arrived in the city.
The refugees were being taken to an accommodation centre in Munich for registration but could be distributed to shelters elsewhere in Germany in coming days.
A refugee boy tries on a security officer's cap after arriving in Germany [Reuters]
Austria's interior ministry arranged the transport after the refugees were bussed to the border by the Hungarian government, which gave up trying to stop them under pressure from the sheer numbers reaching its frontiers.
The ministry said about 4,000 people had arrived in Austria on Saturday and the number was expected to reach 10,000 by the end of the day.
Once they reached the Austrian border, the refugees, many of them from Syria, were whisked by train and shuttle bus to Vienna, where many said they still wanted to continue on to Germany.
After days of confrontation and chaos, Hungary's government deployed the buses to take more than 1,000 refugees, including disabled people and family groups, who had set off by foot on Friday from Budapest down the main highway to Vienna.
Austria said it had agreed with Germany that it would allow the refugees access, waiving the rules of an asylum system brought to breaking point by Europe's worst refugee crisis in decades.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) praised the two countries for their "political leadership based on humanitarian values".
'Refugees welcome'
Wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags against the rain, long lines of weary refugees, many carrying small, sleeping children, climbed off buses on the Hungarian side of the border and walked into Austria, receiving fruit and water from aid workers. Waiting Austrians held signs that read, "Refugees welcome".
Tension rises on Greek island overwhelmed by refugees
"Because of today's emergency situation on the Hungarian border, Austria and Germany agree in this case to a continuation of the refugees' journey into their countries," Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said on his Facebook page.
For days, Hungary has cancelled all trains going west to Austria and Germany, saying it is obliged under EU rules to register all asylum seekers, who should remain there until their requests are processed.
Many refugees refused, determined to get to the richer countries of northern and Western Europe, mainly Germany.
"The government has not commented on why they changed their mind over the issue yet," Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from the highway leading to the Hungarian-Austrian border, said on Budapest’s decision to let refugees go to Austria.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from outside Budapest, said some people were worried the police were luring them into a trap with the buses but they were so exhausted after hours of walking that they boarded them.
Traffic built up on the highway as cars crossing the border were being searched as a result of measures taken after dozens of refugees were found dead on a truck last week.
Meanwhile, European foreign ministers and officials gathered in Luxembourg on Saturday to discuss the massive influx of migrants and refugees in countries across Europe.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday she was still aiming to balance her country's budget, despite an expected 800,000 refugees expected to arrive in Germany this year at a cost of $11 billion.
The Hungarian government deployed buses to ferry refugees to the Austrian border [AP]
Hungary has emerged as the main entry point for refugees reaching the EU by land across the Balkan Peninsula.
More than 140,000 people have been recorded entering Hungary so far this year through the EU's external border with Serbia, where Hungary's government is building a 3.5m wall.
