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| Europe | |||
| Hungary bars migrants from trains; smugglers wait in wings | |||
| 2015-09-02 | |||
| [IsraelTimes] Germany's Merkel warns EU's longstanding commitment to passport-free travel is under threat Hungary stunned migrants and European partners Tuesday by blocking asylum-seekers from its westbound trains, a move that raised new challenges for the EU's passport-free travel zone and could drive many into the reckless hands of cross-border smugglers. Hungary's right-wing nationalist government defended its U-turn -- just days after it started permitting migrants on the trains without any coherent immigration controls at all -- as necessary to send a get-tough signal. Cabinet ministers told politicians that the nation, struggling to cope with more than 150,000 arrivals this year, was determined to seal its borders to unwelcome travelers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Human rights activists criticized the action as futile and reckless, given that eastern European gangs have mobilized fleets of vehicles for illegally transporting migrants to Austria, Germany and elsewhere -- but at steep prices and in often dangerous conditions. They warned that blocking public transportation would increase risks of a repeat of last week's tragedy when the bodies of 71 people, apparently suffocated, were found in the back of an abandoned truck near Vienna, Austria. "There is no logic behind what Hungary is doing: Yesterday they let migrants use the trains, and today they do not," Gabor Gyulai, refugee program coordinator for a Budapest-based rights group called the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. "By not allowing them to move onward into Europe in a regular manner by buying a ticket, it's a certainty that this new policy will push them into the hands of smugglers. It is a terrible outcome." Confusion reigned at Budapest's central Keleti train station as migrants arrived with tickets in hand, often costing 200 euros ($225) each or more, intending to take the morning service to Vienna and the southern German city of Munich. Barring their way were lines of maroon-capped Hungarian police, some of them in body armor. Police initially suspended all services at Keleti and blocked its grand main entrance. Within hours, non-migrant passengers were allowed through a side entrance after showing passports, visas or other national IDs, while Hungarian speakers were waved through. Hungarian State Railways announced it would not sell tickets to customers without proper ID and, where required, visas. It said customers could buy tickets only for themselves unless they showed valid IDs and visas for every passenger. The thwarted migrants faced another night near the station, which has become a concrete campsite as tens of thousands surged north this summer from non-EU member Serbia. Most began their journey weeks ago from Turkish refugee camps bordering the civil war in Syria and hope to reach Germany, which has offered asylum to war refugees and expects to receive a staggering 800,000 migrants this year alone. Outside the station, more than 300 people stood, many shouting protest slogans or waved tickets, hoping that police might let them through. A few made makeshift signs pleading for help from the EU or United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... . One man drew on a pizza box a picture of a moving train, a crying child and the plaintive message "Germany!" Hundreds of smuggler vehicles appeared ready to fill any vacuum created by Hungary's closure of train access.
Hundreds of passengers were left stranded in northern La Belle France overnight Tuesday to Wednesday after their Eurostar to London was stopped in its tracks by migrants who are thought to have climbed onto the roof of the train. The train from Gay Paree slowed to a halt on Tuesday night as it was about to enter the Channel Tunnel and police arrived on the scene, including with a helicopter overhead, witnesses said, in a bid to stop migrants who had got onto the tracks from going further. The disruptions forced several other Eurostar trains that were on their way to London or Gay Paree to turn back, and two trains were cancelled on Wednesday to deal with the backlog of passengers that had built up. Italy Ready to Impose Border Controls after Germany Request Italia is ready to impose identification checks at Brennero on the border with Austria after receiving a request from Germany for help in easing the flow of migrants into Bavaria, the northern province of Bolzano said Wednesday. Rome was ready to "reactivate" controls just as it did for the G7 in June, as "a temporary measure to allow Bavaria to reorganise and face the emergency", a statement from the province said. Bolzano, in the German-speaking Alto Adige region in northern Italia, said Bavaria had asked for "logistical support". The region will also take in "between 300 and 400 refugees", housing them temporarily in a number of gyms already equipped for such use, under the organization of the civil protection agency, and at the cost of the state. "Bavaria is witnessing record arrivals of refugees, mainly via the Balkan route,
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| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 Suddenly the southern border states aren't such bad guys for wanting to control traffic. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-09-02 17:41 |
| #1 Shame on Hungarians. They don't feel like committing suicide. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2015-09-02 13:24 |