Large
groups of refugees and migrants in Hungary are trying to walk to the
Austrian border, after defying official efforts to stop them.
Hungary has announced it will send buses to transport them to the border.
As
darkness fell, police advised around 1,000 walkers on the main motorway
to Vienna to put on light-coloured clothing so that they could be seen.
Earlier on Friday another group escaped along railway tracks in Bicske, to the west, from a train stopped by police.
European Union states are struggling to agree on how to deal with the crisis.
The Hungarian, Czech, Slovakian and Polish prime ministers have rejected quotas for EU nations. In a statement the leaders rejected "any proposal leading to introduction of mandatory and permanent quota for solidarity measures". As it happened: 4 September Image caption
Hundreds of migrants walked along the motorway heading out of Budapest to the west
Image caption
Some of those walking have been holding large photographs of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The
chaotic scenes in Hungary - a main transit country for those seeking to
claim asylum in Germany and other countries in northern and western
Europe - have continued for another day, as authorities struggle to deal
with many thousands of people desperate to reach western Europe.
A
group of around 1,000 who had been waiting days at Budapest's Keleti
station grew frustrated with the lack of international trains, and
decided to walk to Austria - a distance of 180km (110 miles).
Hungarian police seemed to be escorting but not stopping them. The BBC's Matthew Price, walking with the migrants,
says large numbers of people, some pushing wheelchairs and buggies, are
walking down the hard shoulder of the main motorway from the Hungarian
capital to Vienna.
Most of those he spoke to were from Iraq or Syria.
As
night fell, many continued to walk, but others - including a family
with five children - appeared to stop for the night on the hard
shoulder, or in adjacent fields.
One man told the BBC he would continue to the Austrian border:
"Then to Vienna, then to Germany.
"We won't stop. Our target is to Germany, to our mum, to Merkel." Image caption
It is 240km (150 miles) from the Hungarian capital to Vienna
Meanwhile the stand-off between Hungarian police and
hundreds of migrants, who refused to leave a train in Bicske for over
24 hours, has ended.
A large number of people escaped from the train on Friday afternoon and are walking along the train tracks heading west.
Those
migrants who did not escape - many of them families with children -
have been escorted onto buses to be taken to a transit camp.
A Pakistani man in his fifties collapsed and died after leaving the train.
Elsewhere in Hungary on Friday:
There were clashes at Keleti station
after far-right extremists threw two firecrackers towards migrants,
sparking an angry response
Hundreds of people have broken out of a
refugee camp at Roszke near the Serbian border and are being pursued by
police. Video from the camp showed clashes between migrants, trying to
break out, and riot police, who used spray
Hungarian MPs have approved tougher border controls and penalties for migrants trying to pass through to Germany
Under EU regulations, anyone wishing to seek asylum must do so in the first EU country they reach.
But
many of those who have arrived in Hungary do not wish to be registered
there because it is more likely to send migrants back, and has a
relatively small population and economy.
They want to continue on to seek asylum in Germany and other richer countries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned on Friday of "the end of Europe".
"Today
we are talking about tens of thousands but next year we will be talking
about millions and this has no end," Mr Orban said. Image caption
Large crowds of people could be seen walking through Budapest
Image caption
This group of migrants waved an EU flag as they crossed the Budapest city limits
Antonio Guterres, head of the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said the crisis was a defining moment for Europe. In a statement,
he said Europe needed to build "adequate reception capacities",
especially in Greece, replacing a "piecemeal" approach with a "common
strategy".
In other developments:
The UK government - under pressure over its response to the crisis - has agreed to provide settlement for "thousands more" Syrian refugees and an extra £100m in aid for Syrians in the Middle East
Members of the European Commission are
in the Greek island of Kos to examine the difficulties caused by the
large numbers of refugees and migrants landing there
EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels
Some 50 migrants are feared to have
drowned after their boat sank off the coast of Libya, according to the
International Organization for Migration
European papers seek scapegoat over migrant crisis Germany seizes fake Syrian passports Image caption
Some migrants disembarked from the train at Bicske and set off along the rail tracks
Image caption
Others were escorted to a waiting bus
Image caption
Many of those taken to the bus were families with children
Image caption
A group of around 300 migrants escaped from this camp at Roszke, near Hungary's border with Serbia
EU
countries are under pressure as a surge of migrants from the Middle
East and Africa seek to escape war and oppression. Italy, Greece and
Hungary, on the the EU's borders, are under particular pressure.
Where are they coming from?
Syrians make up the largest group by nationality, followed by Afghans and Eritreans.
The word migrant is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "one who moves, either temporarily or permanently, from one place, area, or country of residence to another".
A refugee is, according to the 1951 Refugee Convention,
any person who "owing to a well-founded fear" of persecution is outside
their country of nationality and "unable" or "unwilling" to seek the
protection of that country. To gain the status, one has to go through
the legal process of claiming asylum.
The word migrant has
traditionally been considered a neutral term, but some criticise the BBC
and other media for using a word they say implies something voluntary,
and should not be applied to people fleeing danger. Battle over words to describe migrants Are
you in Hungary? Are you in Bicske on or near the train? Do you have
friends and family who may be affected by this story? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences. If you are happy to speak to a BBC journalist, please include contact details.
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