Migrant crisis causes continued tumultuous scenes in Austria

The southern Austrian town of Spielfeld by the Slovenian border experienced continued turbulent scenes on Friday, with thousands of migrants continuing to pour across the border.

Some of the migrants were forced to sleep out in the open overnight in temperatures nearing the freezing point. Local media reported that by morning 7,000 new arrivals had crossed the Slovenian border into the small town.

The massive crowds of people made registering details a difficult task, with thousands not being able to do so at all. There were also reports of fights breaking out amongst the migrants.

In scenes similar to the past two days, 1,500 of them broke through police barricades at the gathering point in Spielfeld and walked further north into Austria on foot, unaware their planned destination of Germany was still hundreds of kilometres away.

When informed, many turned back, while hundreds continued undeterred. Taxis were also waiting in long queues to transport them onwards.

Train services from the Sentilj municipality, just across the border from Spielfeld, into Leibnitz, a larger town north of Spielfeld, had already been frozen on Thursday due to the crowds.

Despite starting service again on Friday, countless migrants, including young children, were reportedly walking along the tracks towards Austria, the wait for buses too long for them, so as to bypass the border controls and gathering point at Spielfeld.

Authorities said they had no choice but to freeze the services again due to the danger.

The buses themselves also struggled to keep up, either because of the risk of turmoil on board, because too many people were travelling along the roads, or because all emergency quarters were already full.

Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported police spokesperson Leo Josefus as saying police controls simply could not keep up. While a compulsory registration rule for all migrants was in place, he acknowledged that under the present circumstances police simply could not maintain enforcement.

He added that it was the job of police to control the borders, but that only through large-scale use of force could the constant stream pushing through the border be stopped.

This in itself would be difficult, however, with women and children amongst the migrants, along with the likelihood that use of force could easily result in injuries.

To help tackle the problem, just over half the more than 500 Armed Forces personnel stationed at the border to Bulgaria, from which the flow of migrants has slowed somewhat of late, were Friday moved to the Styrian border to Slovenia. Endit