News Digest

Hundreds of migrants arrive in Germany after Hungary backs down

Hundreds of migrants have arrived in Munich, Germany, after they were allowed to leave Hungary and cross through Austria. They are among thousands who have been on the move after Germany and Austria agreed to take more refugees, waiving asylum rules. Hungary, which has been struggling to cope with an influx of people from the Middle East and Asia, relaxed its attempts to stop the progress of the migrants, many of whom are refugees from Syria. Germany opened its borders as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would be setting no limit to the number of people who could seek asylum in her country.

We are very happy that something is happening at last. The next stop is Austria. The children are very tired, Hungary is very bad, we have to go somehow.

23-year-old Osama, from Syria

Last night, refugees and migrants at Budapest railway station began boarding 100 buses bound for Austrian 84 miles (135km) away while around 1,000 people that left earlier continued to make the journey on foot. One man, a 51-year-old Pakistani, collapsed about 800 metres from the station and died despite efforts to save him. Others remain in Hungary, unable to get tickets for onward travel or while waiting to see if they can get on a bus. One 23-year-old man leaving Budapest on foot said he expected to arrive in Austria within three days. Osama Morzar from Syria said he removed his fingerprints with acid so he couldn’t be registered in Hungary, holding up smooth fingers as evidence.