The Hungarian government has declared a state of emergency to cope with the influx of refugees, as almost 10,000 people were arrested on Monday for illegally crossing the border from Serbia, police said. On Tuesday, police also detained at least 60 people claiming to be Syrian and Afghan refugees after they illegally crossed the border with Serbia, police spokeswoman Viktoria Csiszer-Kovacs said. Aljazeera reports:
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has indicated that asylum requests from refugees trying to enter Hungary from Serbia will be rejected because Serbia is a safe country where refugees do not risk war or persecution.
Meanwhile, Serbia was talking to the Hungarian government about the buildup of refugees on their frontier, a Serbian government minister said, adding Budapest would “have to open the border”. Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia’s minister in charge of tackling the refugee crisis, did not elaborate.
UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said on Tuesday that it is likely that thousands of refugees will simply divert their route now that Hungary has closed its border with Serbia. “We’re definitely in touch with different countries on contingencies and UNHCR is ready to move and assist different countries as best we can,” Fleming said. “It’s going to be just as much a struggle as it has been for Macedonia and Greece.”
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