BUDAPEST, Hungary, Sept. 3 (UPI) — The Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, reopened to migrants Thursday after a two-day conflict, but international trains to Western Europe have been suspended indefinitely.
Hundreds of migrants were stuck since Tuesday when Hungary decided to prevent them from entering the train station. Several migrants clashed with police.
The government said it closed the station to restore order and enforce European Union rules on migrant distribution and registration.
The EU rule on refugees, known as the Dublin Regulation, says asylum seekers must register in the first EU member country in which they arrived. Germany recently said it would suspend the rule for Syrian migrants who traveled to the country, which isencouraging migrants to continue traveling toward Munich.
Dozens of migrants attempted to cram themselves into a train headed for Munich, but Hungary reportedly is not allowing people to travel to Germany. Other migrants were attempting to reach Vienna, Austria.
One train carrying migrants departed Budapest on Thursday, headed toward the Austrian border.
Migrants desperate to leave Budapest were getting on any train in sight, though Hungarian officials were refusing to tell them where trains are going.
“Hungarians are full of fear,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a news conference in Brussels. “People of Europe full of fear because they see that the European leaders, among them the prime ministers, are not able to control the situation.”
Orban said border control was “the No. 1 issue” and that the migrant crisis was a “German problem.”
“Nobody would like to stay in Hungary,” he said. “All of them would like to go to Germany … Our job is only to register them.”
The migrant crisis in Europe has been at the forefront of international discussion recently. EU interior ministers and justice ministers are scheduled to meet Sept. 14 in Brussels to discuss the migrant crisis.
Meanwhile, Turkish officials announced Wednesday at least 11 people thought to be Syrian migrants drowned when two boats sank after leaving southwest Turkey for the Greek island of Kos. Five children and one woman were among the dead.
A picture circulated of one of the dead children, a three-year-old boy identified as Aylan Kurdi, has caused worldwide outrage.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is one of the few political leaders in Europe that has reacted to the graphic image, stating the “urgent action” is required over the migrant crisis.
