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Record number of refugees expected in Hungary before border security tightens

Xinhua, September 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

A record number of Syrian, Afghan and other refugees are expected to cross into Hungary from Serbia on Monday, before Hungary's tough border restrictions go into effect on Sept. 15.

After a single day record of 5,809 refugees entering Hungary from Serbia on Sunday, putting the overall refugee figure for 2015 at 191,702, another 5,353 people arrived between midnight and noon local time Monday (2200 and 1000 GMT), according to the Hungarian National Police Force.

Meanwhile, on Monday afternoon, Austria again closed down the M1-A4 motorway connecting Vienna and Budapest, Gyor-Moson-Sopron County police reported.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attended a swearing-in ceremony for 860 new probationary police officers here earlier on Monday, where he called on the new officers to help defend the country's borders.

"Our one thousand years of statehood give us the indisputable right to defend our borders and protect our citizens and culture," he said. It is Hungarians' right to decide who can enter the country, he told the new police, and the Hungarian authorities' responsibility to make certain everyone respects the law.

The world has become derailed, Orban said. Life has changed dramatically and Hungarians must respond to that, in part with this introduction of new police officers, he noted. Hungarians do not want to change their millennium-old Christian culture, he said.

After decades of peace in Europe "history has kicked down the door," Orban said. He noted that as of Sept. 15, new regulations would reinforce the security of Hungary's borders now that a double fence had been built. Illegally crossing the border will qualify as a felony, Orban warned, resulting in prison or expulsion. People smugglers, he added, will be as seriously punished as they deserve for profiteering from other people's lives.

At the same time, he asked the new police to be humane. "Remember that your uniforms cover a heart as well as muscles, and you will need both," Orban said.

At a meeting of Orban's Fidesz Party, also on Monday, its parliamentary group leader Antal Rogan said he felt that Hungary was practically the only country in the European Union adhering to the Dublin-3 accord on management of refugees. In its current form, the accord has failed, he said, citing Berlin's Sunday decision to introduce border controls. Endit