Hungary may send army to border as fence proves futile in stemming migrant tide

Hungary is considering using the army to secure its southern border where record numbers of migrants are streaming into the European Union. Police said a record 2,533 migrants – most of them from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan – were caught entering Hungary from Serbia on Tuesday. More may have passed unnoticed, walking through gaps in an unfinished barrier across the border. Meanwhile, police fired tear gas at refugees as tensions boiled over at a reception centre on the border. The trouble flared as Hungarian police struggled to deal with up to 400 people in the border area of Roszke.

Hungary’s government and national security cabinet … has discussed the question of how the army could be used to help protect Hungary’s border and the EU’s border

Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs

The numbers travelling through the Balkans have soared in recent weeks, with 3,000 entering Macedonia daily from Greece. Embroiled in a debilitating economic crisis, Greece has taken to ferrying migrants from its overwhelmed islands to Athens, from where they head north by bus. Serbia said about 10,000 migrants were passing through the country at any time, their stay lengthening as Hungary nears completion of the fence. “The situation will get worse, when winter arrives. We’re getting ready to look after double that number,” Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

Building fences, using tear gas and other forms of violence against migrants and asylum seekers, detention, withholding access to basics such as shelter, food or water and using threatening language or hateful speech will not stop migrants from coming

UN migrant rights spokesman François Crépeau

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