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Roundup: Tempers flare, police break up scuffles, refugees vow to walk to Vienna

Xinhua, September 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Scuffles between refugees and soccer fans broke out close to the Keleti railway station here on Friday evening as many frustrated migrants began walking to Vienna.

Police have been keeping the two groups apart, while other scuffles reflected heated tempers at the Hungarian-Serbian border crossing point of Roszke, where migrants began throwing rocks at police who responded with tear gas, local wire service MTI reported.

Earlier, some 300 people forced their way out of the Roszke collection facility, impatient with the slow pace of paperwork, but eventually agreed to board buses, according to police department's website.

Meanwhile, about 800 refugees apparently had had enough of living in the shadow of Keleti station after all international trains were cancelled, and announced that they were walking to Vienna in their bid to reach Germany.

Police cars have been traveling alongside the walkers as they walked through Budapest and onto the motorway linking the two cities. They continued their walk on the motorway shoulder as darkness fell, with police driving alongside them, according to road information service Utinform's senior staff member Gabor Liptak.

The Hungarian ministry of foreign affairs has called on the Austrian authorities to declare their approach to the walkers.

A stand-off in Bicske, about 40 km from Budapest, where a trainload of refugees wanting to reach the Austrian border was halted on Thursday, appears to be reaching a measure of resolution as 51 of the roughly 500 people who refused to leave the train finally agreed to be transported to a holding facility by bus. Another group of 30 left the train for the camp about an hour later.

Meanwhile, one man participating in the Bicske standoff died after collapsing at the railway station. National Ambulance and Emergency Service communications manager Pal Gyorfy said they had been called to the man whom they were unable to resuscitate. Police identified him as a 51-year-old Pakistani national; the medical team is investigating the cause of death.

In the meantime, the heads of government of the Visegrad Group members - Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary - voiced full support for Hungary in its efforts to manage the refugee crisis at a special meeting in Prague. Endit