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Migrants trapped after Hungary closes border with Serbia

Xinhua, September 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Refugee crisis on the border between Serbia and Hungary might escalate further if Hungary does not open the border crossings Horgos 1 and 2, Serbian minister of labour and social policy Aleksandar Vulin said on Tuesday.

Vulin visited on Tuesday the border crossing Horgos 1 which was closed today by Hungarian authorities, and said that it was undertaken "without notifying Serbian authorities" and that this created a problem with refugees from the Middle East who keep arriving at the no-man's land between the two countries.

Vulin said that around 1,000 refugees who don't wish to return to Serbia are stranded along the border between the two countries. While Serbian national news agency Tanjug reported that around 100 refugees started a hunger strike Tuesday, asking for the opening of the border crossings Horgos 1 and nearby Horgos 2.

Reportedly some one hundred refugees are sitting on the road and turf on 'no-one's land', holding banners reading 'No food, no water, until open border'.

Vulin said that the border crossings should be open, while refugees should be allowed to seek for asylum, or else "the situation could slip out of control".

He said that the problem can be solved only with the cooperation of Hungary.

Since Monday midnight Hungary introduced an amended law which treats illegal border crossing as a criminal act and sentences people who attempt it to up to three years of imprisonment.

State of emergency was also declared in two southern Hungarian municipalities. Temporary courts where trials for those who break the new legislative have been set up in mobile containers that were installed on Tuesday.

"Yesterday they (Hungarian authorities) announced that they will close their border for illegal crossings, but not for those who legally wish to seek for asylum," Vulin said, complaining that Hungary broke its own word Tuesday by closing the border for both, and that the Serbian police was not notified of their intention to close the border.

Vulin said that Serbia is ready to transport the refugees to the nearest shelters which can hold several thousand migrants, but that it can not force them to leave the no man's land. He announced that the refugees will be provided with water, food, diapers, baby food. Endit