Some Austrians cheered as busloads of migrants pulled up on their border with Hungary early Saturday -- and weary passengers clutching children streamed toward them.
The passengers carried their meager belongings in backpacks as they exited the vehicles in the rain.
They
walked on foot over the border to Nickelsdorf, in Austria's Burgenland
state, where applause broke out among groups welcoming the convoys of
buses with food, Austrian public TV ORF reported.
The Austrian Red Cross also provided medical supplies and warm blankets.
At
least 5,500 refugees have arrived in Austria from Hungary since Friday
night, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday afternoon local
time. Some 2,500 are still in the border town of Nickelsdorf and are
waiting to head to the capital, Vienna, the UNHCR said via Twitter.
Deputy
Chief of Burgenland State Police Werner Fasching earlier said about
10,000 migrants were expected in total. There are only enough beds for
600 people in and around Nickelsdorf, and the bulk of the refugees are
being sent to Vienna via trains and buses, he said.
"We
are trying to move as many as possible in the direction of Vienna,"
Fasching said. There the migrants will receive food, drink and, if
needed, medical care. Some who wish to continue on to Germany will be
permitted to do so.
Their arrival in Austria caps
an emotional week for the migrants, many of whom had walked for hours
before they got into dozens of buses provided by the Hungarian
authorities.
In light of the acute
situation, Austrian and German officials agreed to allow thousands of
migrants into their countries, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said.
The
UNHCR said it "welcomes the decision of Austria and Germany to receive
thousands of refugees and migrants who crossed the border last night
from Hungary. This is political leadership based on humanitarian
values."
And it's not just the
politicians who have extended a hand. Some individuals in Vienna are
donating train tickets for refugees heading onwards across Europe, the
UNHCR said, while others elsewhere are giving food and supplies.
UNHCR
spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the refugees she'd met at a Vienna
station were enormously grateful for the welcome they'd received since
reaching Austria.
Trains stopped
Chaotic
scenes erupted Thursday as trains packed with Syrian refugees hoping to
travel to Austria or ultimately Germany were abruptly halted at Bicske
station outside the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
Hungarian
authorities wanted to send them to a nearby holding camp, but --
fearing that once there they would be badly treated and unable to
continue their journey north -- the migrants refused to get off the
train despite suffocating heat and limited food.
After
a standoff lasting more than a day, hundreds set off on foot Friday
along the train tracks toward the Austrian border, about 100 miles away.
Hungary eventually sent buses to pick them.
About 300 more at Bicske station agreed to go to the nearby refugee camp, according to a Hungarian government statement.
Amid
the chaos, the U.N. refugee agency said a 50-year-old man had died
Friday in Bicske. Initial reports suggest he fell and hit his head on
the tracks while trying to run away from police, said Montserrat Feixas
Vihe, the UNHCR's Central Europe representative.
More
than 1,000 other refugees set off on foot from Budapest's main Keleti
station -- where they had been waiting for days to travel onward -- and
walked for hours beside a highway. They also were picked up by buses, as
were others still at the station.
Over
the past week, Keleti station had become a focal point of the crisis
engulfing parts of Europe as an unprecedented wave of people -- mostly
refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- seek to
reach Northern and Western Europe.
By Friday night, it was empty.
In
a sign of a rushed departure, many belongings were left scattered in
the station -- single shoes, bedding, children's toys. Even as the
refugees were still boarding buses and waiting to depart, cleaners were
clearing the train station.
The
refugees on the buses were exhausted but relieved to be on their way,
though some expressed doubt that they would actually be taken as far as
Austria. "Are they taking us to border?" one man asked suspiciously.
Once in Austria they plan to head to various parts of Europe -- Germany, Italy, Sweden were among the destinations they named.
Christian
Stella, a police commander at the Austrian border, said those refugees
who request asylum in Austria are being taken to the Nova Rock stadium
in Nickelsdorf.
Those who want to go on
to Germany are either being put on special trains to Vienna from
Nickelsdorf train station, or bussed directly to Vienna from the border
crossing, he said. About 2,500 people had been processed by around noon.
Austria's
Interior Ministry warned on its website that it is illegal for private
individuals crossing into Hungary to pick up migrants and ferry them
back to Austria.
The ministry has,
however, asked for Austrian citizens and companies to lend the
government land on which to put temporary accommodation for refugees.
Hungary overwhelmed
Despite
finding itself on the front lines of the migrant crisis, Hungary is
more a transit point than a destination on a long journey to wealthier
nations such as Austria and Germany, where the refugees hope to claim
asylum.
Speaking to reporters before a
meeting of EU foreign ministers Saturday in Luxembourg, Hungarian
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto defended his country's response.
"What
has been happening in Hungary are two things -- first, the failed
migration policy of the EU, and the second one is series of some
irresponsible statements made by European politicians," he said.
Szijjarto
also accused the migrants of exacerbating the situation by failing to
cooperate with authorities or go to refugee camps where they could get
shelter and other essentials. In setting off on foot along the country's
main railway line and highway, they then triggered an emergency
situation, he said.
"That is why we have decided to send buses and deliver them to the Austrian border where they wanted to go."
Under
European law, those seeking asylum are approved in the country where
they first registered, and most migrants prefer to file paperwork in
Western European nations, which have better programs set up to help
refugees.
Still, Hungary has been
inundated with 140,000 asylum applications since January, and there have
been about 2,000 new arrivals daily, U.N. refugee agency spokesman
Babar Baloch said.
Hungarian
authorities have said under EU legislation, they can't allow people to
travel internationally without the proper documentation -- a valid
passport, a ticket and any necessary visas.
Mogherini: Legal and moral duties
Addressing
reporters after the Luxembourg meeting, EU foreign policy chief
Federica Mogherini said Europe is finally starting to see the problem
for what it is -- not just affecting certain EU states, such as Italy
and Greece, but a Europe-wide issue.
"We
also have to start using the right words. It is partially a migrant
flow, but it is mainly a refugee flow, which puts us in a different
situation when it comes to our legal and moral duties," she said. It's
also a situation that is "here to stay," she warned.
"The
time for blame games is over," Mogherini said, and EU states need to
find common ways of sharing responsibility for the influx of migrants
and refugees, rather than leaving only a few to shoulder the burden.
Mandatory
quotas have been rejected by some EU members. However, a voluntary
system makes decisions more difficult, she said, so common systems are
needed to speed up the process.
More
must also be done to tackle the networks of people traffickers
exploiting migrants who seek to cross the Mediterranean from North
Africa to Italy, or to travel from Greece via the Balkans to northern
Europe, she said. Restoring stability to Libya and finding a political
solution to the war in Syria are key to resolving the issue longer term,
she said.
Europe must remember its own
history of wars and conflicts, she added, as it considers its
responsibility to help and protect refugees.
'The problem is a German problem'
Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who met with other EU members Thursday in
Brussels, Belgium, said the situation was not of his country's making.
"The problem is not a European problem; the problem is a German problem," he said.
Germany's
government said last month it expected up to 800,000 asylum seekers to
come this year -- four times more than in 2014. But Orban said German
Chancellor Angela Merkel had said that they must be registered before
leaving Hungary, which his country was trying to do.
Without
strict border controls, EU migrant quotas are "an invitation" for
migrants to come, he said. "Turkey is a safe country, why don't you stay
there?" he said, adding that migrants who reach Serbia should also stay
put.
Hungary's right-wing government
has faced criticism for erecting a barbed-wire fence along its more than
100-mile long border with Serbia in a bid to prevent migrants crossing
illegally.
But Orban said his country was just trying to enforce EU rules.
"Don't criticize Hungary for what is being done. Let Hungary do the job as it is written in the European regulations," he said.
While
European leaders struggle to come up with a coherent plan, the men,
women and children caught up in the crisis continue to suffer.
SOURRCE-CNN
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