Hungary PM says refugees ‘German problem,’ slams EU inability to control situation
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that by mid-September, Budapest should have a package of regulations in place to tackle the growing number of migrants. He said Hungarians are 'full of fear' because Europe is unable to 'control the situation.'
"We Hungarians are full of fear, people in Europe are full of fear because they see that the European leaders, among them prime ministers, are not able to control the situation," Orban said on Thursday, after a meeting with European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Brussels.
The prime minister added: "I came here to inform the president that Hungary is doing everything possible to maintain order. We are creating now in the Hungarian parliament a new package of regulations, we set up a physical barrier and all these together will provide a new situation in Hungary and in Europe from September 15. Now we have one week of preparation time."
On Thursday, Hungarian police allowed hundreds of migrants inside Budapest's main railway station, but then the authorities canceled all trains to Western Europe, causing chaos.
Hundreds of people, many of them fleeing conflicts zones in the Middle East with their children, took a waiting train by storm, trying to push kids through open windows, hoping they would be allowed to continue their journey west to Austria, Germany and further afield. But signs in Hungarian said there were no west-bound trains, Reuters reported. It's unclear why the police had suddenly withdrawn, having stopped more than 2,000 migrants from entering for two days.
Hungary is currently building a 3.5 meter-high fence on its southern border with Serbia designed to deter migrants. So far this year, 140,000 have been caught entering the country.
Following talks with the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, Orban noted the current refugee crisis was not an EU problem, but rather "a German problem," as he put it.
According to Orban, none of the migrants want to "stay in Hungary."
"All of them want to go to Germany," the Hungarian prime minister said.
Arrests made as refugees protest being taken off train
Hungarian police have declared Bicske railway station an 'operation zone', ordering all media to leave, Reuters reported.
Police earlier stopped the first train bound for the town of Sopron near the Austrian border, ordering migrants off at Bicske, where Hungary has a migrant reception center. The migrants reportedly banged on the train windows, shouting "No camp, no camp."
About 50 riot police were lined up near the train. One carriage was emptied by law enforcement officers, while five more carriages full of migrants were still standing at the station.
Police have detained migrants who lay on the rail tracks in protest against being sent to a reception camp. Dozens of migrants have fled, according to Reuters.
Those who were told to get off the train, reportedly forced their way back on.
On Wednesday, the Hungarian PM lashed out at the "failed immigration policy" of the EU. In a commentary for the German Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung daily, he defended a decision to erect a fence along its southern border with Serbia, saying:
"We don’t do this for fun, but because it is necessary."
He said his country was being "overrun" with refugees, most of whom, according to the prime minister, were not Christians.
"Europe and European culture have Christian roots. Is it not alarming that Europe's Christian culture is now barely in a position to uphold European Christian values?" he wondered.
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