Migrant crisis: Merkel vows no tolerance for hate as 44 die in Mediterranean

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced down far-right hecklers on Wednesday, vowing zero tolerance for “vile” anti-migrant violence as at least 44 people were found dead on Wednesday on three overcrowded migrant boats found drifting precariously off the coast of Libya. The biggest migrant crisis to hit Europe since World War II spiraled further as chaotic scenes erupted at a Hungarian border town with police firing tear gas, and Budapest mulling a troop deployment to stem a record influx of asylum-seekers. Alarmed by the worsening situation, UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged countries “in Europe and elsewhere to prove their compassion and do much more to bring an end to the crisis”. The thousands of migrants and refugees who brave perilous journeys “should not, when they arrive, encounter new challenges,” Ban said during a visit to Paris on Wednesday.

We left because we were scared, we had fear, bombs, war, killing, death… that’s why we left Syria. If I go to Europe, I think it’s going to be better… better than my life in Syria.

Syrian refugee in Hungary

Hamstrung by a lack of a coherent European response to the crisis, governments have undertaken at times contradictory approaches to the problem. Hungary is building a vast razor-wire barrier to keep migrants out, while Czech deputy prime minister Andrej Babis has called for the visa-free Schengen zone be closed with the help of NATO troops. Germany, which is preparing to receive a record 800,000 asylum-seekers this year, confirmed Tuesday that it has eased the asylum application procedure for Syrians fleeing the country’s brutal civil war. But Berlin’s largesse has not been welcomed by everyone at home, particularly in the east where a spate of attacks has hit refugee centres. On her visit to a migrant shelter in the eastern town of Heidenau, Merkel was greeted by about 200 protesters, some booing and shouting “traitor, traitor” and “we are the mob” as she arrived. But the German leader vowed: “There will be no tolerance of those who question the dignity of other people.”

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

Europe migrant crisis