Hundreds of migrants broke through police lines in Hungary yesterday to continue their long journey towards western Europe, walking along a major railway line and motorway towards the Austrian border as darkness fell.
A Pakistani man collapsed and died as hundreds of migrants, most from Syria, Afghanistan and other conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa, fled from a train that police held for more than a day at Bicske station, about 35km from Budapest. It was not immediately clear how he died.
At a camp for asylum seekers at Roszke, where most migrants cross into Hungary from Serbia, police used teargas to subdue scuffles hours after several hundred people had briefly fled the facility, only to be apprehended again quickly.
Perhaps the most extraordinary scenes were in Budapest, where more than 2,000 people had been stuck for several days after Hungary banned them from using international trains and buses to continue their westward journey.
Frustration and fear spiralled after police unexpectedly opened Budapest’s main train station on Thursday to let migrants board a train they thought would go to Austria, but in fact only took them to Bicske, where a major camp is located.
At mid-afternoon yesterday, many hundreds of those camped at Keleti station packed what little luggage they had, rolled up foam mats, blankets and sleeping bags, rounded up their children and strode off through Budapest.
Ahead was a 170km walk to Austria, where they believed they would be welcomed and allowed to stay, or to carry on to countries where they would like to settle – with most favouring Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.
“We have come from Syria, walking most of the way, so this is possible for us,” said Hamid (23) as he crossed Erzsebet Bridge and watched the Danube river flow beneath him.
“We said we wanted to go further, to Austria and Germany and other places where we are welcome. We don’t want to stay in Hungary. Why stay here when they treat us not like humans? When they want to put us into camps? This is not freedom.”
Police powerless
Police who had closely watched the migrants at the station as their numbers swelled, watched powerless as they walked through central Budapest, across the Danube and down the side of the major M1 motorway towards Austria.
Traffic swerved and screeched to a halt as the migrants, some with small children by their sides or on their shoulders, and pushing prams with babies, spilled off pavements and the hard shoulder of the motorway.
They were walking in the direction of Bicske, where hundreds of migrants had refused to leave their train and go to a camp they heard was overcrowded, insanitary and could end up being their home for months.
Men called for help from behind a fence separating the train from the rest of the station, and vowed to walk to Austria unless police allowed the train to continue its journey.
“This is the last day here!” Mohammed, from Syria, shouted across the tracks to journalists who police prevented from approaching the train.
“I spoke to my friend in the camp. He said it is very bad there. The police use dogs there. If the police don’t let the train go, we will start walking tomorrow. Come with us, please, so the police don’t touch us.”
They did not wait to spend another night on the train. On one carriage they had daubed: “No Hungary. Freedom Train” in shaving foam – and they set off within the hour.
At Budapest’s main train station too, migrants had warned that they were losing patience.
At lunchtime, two men and a woman stood on a pillar at the station entrance and, using a megaphone, told well over 1,000 migrants in the square outside that they should prepare to start walking to Austria in two hours.
“If we stay here, they will put us in camps. We know all about refugee camps where we come from,” one of the men said in Arabic.
Gazi (17) from Hama in Syria translated into English, as the crowd cheered and clapped.
“People support this,” he said. “They are tired and frustrated. When the train left yesterday, we thought we could go to Austria and Germany, but when they took those people to a camp we lost trust in Hungary.”
Gazi’s friend Nizar (16), also from Hama, said people traffickers were trying to profit from the migrants’ desperation to leave the station and go west.
Taxi fare of €500
“They charge €1,800 to get to Austria. Taxi drivers are asking for €500 to the border. It is too expensive and lots of people bought train tickets that they can’t use now. People want to move on. We all want to move on.”
As the man with the megaphone finished his rallying cry, the crowd chanted: “Yes, yes, yes!”
Just a few hours later they were on the move again, towards Austria, as central European leaders discussed how to cope with a crisis that has seen more than 150,000 migrants enter Hungary this year, en route to western Europe.
Germany says it willing to accept some 800,000 asylum seekers this year, and wants all European Union states to share the burden by accepting fixed numbers though a quota system.
The prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia again rejected quotas as “unacceptable” , however, insisting in a joint statement that they favoured “the voluntary nature of EU solidarity measures”.
Czech and Slovak officials yesterday said they could consider creating a “train corridor” for migrants to reach Germany from Hungary if both countries agreed.
"If Germany wants to accept the Syrians, they should give them a clear and public permit to enter the country," Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said.
“It’s irresponsible to put forward policy embracing compassion, like the European Union’s quota plan, that can only be seen by refugees as the opportunity of their life.”
