Hundreds of migrants are stranded at
the Serbia-Hungary border after the Hungarian government closed the
frontier with a new razor-wire fence.
The move aims to stop migrants who are trying to enter the EU.
After
new Hungarian laws came into effect overnight, police sealed a railway
crossing point that had been used by tens of thousands of migrants.
Some have been searching for a way through the fence, while others threw down food and water in protest.
Hungarian
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has suggested his country is planning
to build a fence to keep migrants out along part of its border with
Romania - a fellow EU member - to prevent the bypassing of the current
frontier.
The EU is facing a huge influx of migrants, many fleeing
conflict and poverty in countries including Syria, where a civil war
has been raging since 2011. At the scene: James Reynolds, BBC News, on the Serbia-Hungary border
Right
next to the border, refugees and migrants are searching in desperation
for ways into Hungary. One group from Afghanistan crowded in front of a
portable cabin built into the fence. A boy tried to open the door
handle. The group hoped that this cabin might be a new front door into
the European Union. But no-one answered them.
A
few metres away, another group began a protest. They sat on the road
and threw their bottles of water and loaves of bread into a pile. "We
don't want food or water until we cross the border," shouted one man.
An
hour later, a crowd right next to the border fence started to move
forward. The hunger strikers abandoned their protest to join the bigger
crowd - in the hope of finding a way into Hungary. But I didn't see
anyone being allowed to cross. The EU's border agency says more than 500,000
migrants have arrived at the EU's borders this year, compared with
280,000 in 2014. The vast majority have come by boat across the
Mediterranean.
The Serbian minister in charge of the government's
working committee on migrants, Aleksandar Vulin, argued that the closure
of the border by Hungary was unsustainable.
Media captionSerbian
minister Alexander Vulin: "Hungary never told us officially they would
close the border - we are talking to them through the fence"
He told the BBC's Lyse Doucet that contact between Serbian and Hungarian officials had been minimal.
"We
have some kind of negotiations, if you can say so, with Hungarian
counterparts, with a police officer - someone who is in charge, through
the fence. And we ask, can we talk somewhere... can we find some place
to see each other? They said no. Through the fence."
In other developments on Tuesday:
Twenty-two people, including four
children, drowned after a wooden boat following the most popular recent
migrant route, between Turkey and Greece, sank; 249 of those on board
were rescued
179 refugees stepped off a Munich-Berlin train in Saxony after the emergency brake cord was pulled, German media say
Extra powers
Hungary declared a state of emergency in two southern counties as the new laws came into force.
Media captionFergal Keane at the Hungarian border: "Police have been given extra powers under a state of emergency"
Follow Fergal Keane on the Hungary-Serbia border
Anyone who crosses the border illegally will face charges, and 30 judges have been put on standby to try offenders.
The
laws also make it a criminal offence - punishable by prison or
deportation - to damage the newly built 4m (13ft) razor-wire fence along
Hungary's 175km (110 mile) border with Serbia.
Police buses will
now take asylum applicants to registration centres, but if their
applications are refused they will now be returned to Serbia rather than
being given passage through Hungary.
The state of emergency gives police extra powers and could allow the deployment of troops, if parliament approves. Image copyrightAPImage caption
Hundreds have been waiting at the newly closed border fence
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Hungarian police have started to make arrests
Will Hungary's clampdown work? Afghan boy's lonely start in Germany What next for Germany's asylum seekers? Caring for solo child refugees Crisis explained in graphics
Hungarian authorities said more than 9,000 people - a
new record - crossed into the country on Monday before the border was
closed. Some 20,000 crossed into Austria from Hungary.
Police said they had arrested 60 people accused of trying to breach the fence on the border with Serbia.
Hungarian
government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said: "The official and legal ways
to come to Hungary and therefore to the European Union remain open.
That's all we ask from all migrants - that they should comply with
international and European law".
The European Commission said it
was seeking clarification of parts of the new Hungarian legislation, to
check whether it was in line with EU asylum rules.
Row over quotas
Starting
on Tuesday, the EU has agreed to relocate 40,000 migrants from Greece
and Italy to other EU states. But it has yet to agree on mandatory
quotas for a further 120,000 asylum seekers.
At talks in Brussels
on Monday, a majority of states had agreed in principle to the idea of
relocating a further 120,000 through mandatory quotas, and there was
hope the proposal could be finally approved at a meeting on 8 October.
Germany and Austria are calling for a special meeting of EU leaders next week to discuss the crisis.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference that "this problem can
only be solved together. It is a responsibility for the entire European
Union".
However, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have opposed the quotas.
Media captionItaly's
foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni says EU states should "practise
solidarity" when it comes to migrants and not "cherry-pick"
German
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday there should be
ways of "exerting pressure" on states that refused binding quotas,
possibly by reducing the amount of EU funding they receive.
But the Czech state secretary for the EU, Toma Prouza, said such threats were "empty but very damaging to all"
A
spokeswoman from the UN refugee agency, Melissa Fleming, said she
expected migrant "chaos" to continue in the absence of more decisive
action by the EU, with migrants seeking a new route.
Germany
introduced temporary border controls on Monday. That slowed down the
passage of migrants from Austria, where about 2,000 people slept in
railway stations overnight.
Austria - one of several EU countries
to say it would tighten border controls - is starting to deploy
hundreds of troops to help the police deal with migrant arrivals ahead
of the new measures coming in at midnight (22:00 GMT).
The moves
are a challenge to the EU's Schengen agreement on free movement,
although the rules do allow for temporary controls in emergencies. Are you seeking refuge in Europe? Will you be avoiding Hungary? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
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