Hundreds of migrants chant "Germany, Germany" outside one of Hungary's main train stations as police line up by the entrance.
Hundreds of migrants, many of them refugees from
Syria, have protested outside Budapest's main railway station after
they were stopped from boarding trains to Germany.Hungarian police forced dozens of them out of the Keleti
terminal as the government temporarily suspended all rail traffic there.It comes as the foreign minister said the country planned to
register all refugees, but economic migrants will be sent back to the
state from where they entered Hungary.
Authorities firstly shut the capital's station and then re-opened it but stopped migrants from entering.
A large crowd gathered outside, some of whom shouted "Germany, Germany" and "Freedom! Freedom!".
Several said they had spent hundreds of euros on tickets.
A migrant from Guinea hiding in a car engine
Scuffles broke out earlier as migrants pushed toward metal gates at a platform where a train was scheduled to leave for Vienna and Munich, and were blocked by police.
The latest move marks a U-turn for Hungary which over the weekend had started to allow migrants to travel by train to northern Europe without going through asylum procedures.
The closure of the station appeared prompted in part by pressure from other European Union nations trying to cope with the influx of thousands of migrants flowing through Hungary.
Trainloads of migrants arrived in Austria and Germany from Hungary on Monday as asylum rules collapsed under the strain of a wave of migration unprecedented in the EU.
Many refugees are hoping to be able to claim asylum in Germany.
Hassan, a 47-year-old Syrian, said he and two friends had each bought tickets to Germany for a total of 370 euros.
"They took 125 euros for each ticket to Munich or Berlin, then they stopped and forced us from station," he said.
"(They) said station is closed. They said no trains, this station is closed."
Marah, a 20 year-old girl from Aleppo, Syria, who travelled with her family, said they had bought six tickets for a RailJet train that was scheduled to leave for Vienna at 9am on Tuesday.
"They should find a solution," she told Reuters. "We are thousands here, where should we go?"
Hungary is the gateway to the EU for migrants crossing by land from nations including Syria and Afghanistan, across Macedonia and Serbia.
Army engineers have begun building a 4m-high fence along the border with non-EU member Serbia in an attempt to control the problem.
A government spokesman told Reuters the terminus was closed in adherence with EU law, which requires anyone who wishes to travel within Europe to hold a valid passport and a Schengen visa.
Meanwhile, UNICEF has said the number of women and children fleeing through Macedonia has tripled in the past three months.
Source: Skynews
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