Budapest: Tension mounts as migrants demand ‘freedom’

Hungarian riot police kept close watch over more than 2,000 migrants gathered outside Budapest’s main train station last night, as numbers, frustration and tension in the crowd continued to grow.

Groups of dozens of the migrants, who are mostly young men from war-riven countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, occasionally marched outside Keleti (Eastern) station chanting "freedom!" and demanding to be allowed to continue their westward journey.

Some of the men blocked traffic on busy roads running past the station, prompting small squads of police to move in, clear the roads and lead some of the protesters away into the station.

Each such incident brought many more men running to join the crowd or to watch how it played out, creating a sense of constant, nervous movement on the two-level square outside the station, which is now full of asylum seekers.

On the lower level, women, small children and the elderly sit on rugs, blankets and in tents, while men fill the area outside the main entrance to the station, which is blocked to them by a line of police in blue uniform and red berets.

Rumours crackle through and energise the crowds like electricity: in the course of half an hour on Wednesday afternoon, different groups became agitated by word that police were making arrests; that they may shortly be allowed to travel on to Austria and Germany and that a gang of skinheads was on its way to attack them.

None of the rumours was immediately borne out and people calmed down, but the constant uncertainty, basic conditions and regular wail of police vehicles around the area kept these weary people on edge.

Their frustration and confusion have been increased by the unpredictability of Hungary, which on Monday unexpectedly dropped a ban on migrants taking trains to Austria and Germany, before reinstating the ban on Tuesday – leaving many of the near-destitute travellers with costly tickets that they could not use.

Tough line

With tension rising in Budapest and across Europe as the flow of migrants shows no sign of abating, Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, is due to hold talks on the issue on Thursday with top European Union officials in Brussels.

Mr Orban has taken a tough line on migration, unfurling a razor-wire fence along Hungary's border with Serbia and ordering the construction of a four-metre high security barrier along the frontier, while rejecting German-led plans for EU states to take refugees according to a quota system.

“We have to reinstate law and order at the borders of the European Union, including the border with Serbia,” said Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs.

“Without re-establishing law and order, it will be impossible to handle the influx of migrants.”

He also suggested that the migrants at Keleti station would not be heading further west anytime soon: “A train ticket does not overwrite EU rules,” he said.

The Hungarian parliament – dominated by Mr Orban’s populist right-wing Fidesz party – is expected to vote on Thursday on government proposals to further tighten border controls and to allow the army to be deployed to the frontier zone to perform limited tasks, including the creation of holding camps for migrants.

While some asylum seekers followed news and social media posts on smartphones, most outside Keleti station last night were desperate for information.

“What can we do? Tell me,” said Niha Shahir, a young Afghan whose temporary papers for Hungary said he was just a 15-year-old.

“I’ve been travelling two months from our city, Ghazni, with my friend. Why do they stop us here? What will they do? Will they put us in a camp, or send us back?”

Hundreds of volunteers are helping migrants in Budapest and elsewhere in Hungary, providing food, water, basic medical help and information.

Last night, the prominent Migration Aid group planned to march from Budapest’s Nyugati (western) train station to parliament beside the Danube, to protest against plans to tighten restrictions on asylum seekers.

“On the basis of the authorities’ way of handling the migration question so far, Migration Aid thinks that authorities are risking a serious tragedy,” said the group.

It was particularly critical of the government’s fluctuating position on whether migrants could use international trains, saying its “inconsistent actions led to a highly tense situation which put the safety of our volunteers at risk at Keleti train station”.

With the EU's border and asylum systems close to collapse, the Czech Republic said it would no longer detain Syrians who entered its territory on their way to Germany, having already applied for asylum in Hungary.

Czech police spokeswoman Katerina Rendlova said Prague had changed its position because Hungary was refusing to take back such refugees, and Germany had expressed a willingness to accept them.

The Czech, Polish and Slovak prime ministers will discuss the migration crisis with Mr Orban in Prague Friday.