A group of migrants protesting against the closure of the Hungarian-Serbian border broke through a border gate to Hungary.
Protestchöre in #Horgos. Die Menschen suchen direkt daneben Schutz vor der Sonne. #Röszke https://t.co/9PgIGpC50x
— Martin Jäschke (@jaeschko) September 16, 2015
Hungarian police met them with tear gas and water cannons. At least 30 people, including journalists and children, were injured in clashes with police.
According to the Serbian RTS1 TV channel, Hungarian police beat several reporters, including a female, who required medical assistance afterwards.
"At Horgos on the border and seeing at least 3 injured children, eyes streaming from tear gas one with a head wound. All under 10 years," Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Director Tirana Hassan wrote on Twitter.
#Hungary: Special police forces now at border crossing w/ #Serbia as tension rises among #refugees pic.twitter.com/U9fK4moGCM Via @BGDopisnikAJB
— José Miguel Sardo (@jmsardo) September 16, 2015
"The crowd on the Serbian side became aggressive and threw stones, bottles and sticks at police on the Hungarian side and crossed the barrier at the border," Hungarian police said.
#Hungarian #riot police deployed at #horgos. #Police used tear gas against the #refugees http://t.co/oocjZilslI pic.twitter.com/KZd6YpPQT6
— Levente Hernadi (@Lvnte) September 16, 2015
Two APCs just turned up. #Horgos #Hungary #RefugeeCrisis pic.twitter.com/ZXtIVhLcD6
— Jason N. Parkinson (@JasonNParkinson) September 16, 2015
Hungary is being used as a gateway to wealthier EU countries by hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. Budapest estimates that over 190,000 migrants have illegally entered the country since the beginning of 2015.
BREAKING: #refugees attacked police who reacted w/ tear gas again. Crowd is fleeing. Riot police w/ shields and special forces also present.
— Szabolcs Panyi (@panyiszabolcs) September 16, 2015
Last week, some 300 migrants broke out of the Rozske camp but police apprehended and forced them back.
Welcome to Hungary pic.twitter.com/Z5MiNqpjty
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 16, 2015
Last week, some 300 migrants broke out of the Rozske camp but police apprehended and forced them back.
Hungary is one of several EU countries reeling from the rapidly escalating migrant crisis, as hundreds of thousands of people flee their homelands in the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa in the hope of finding refuge in the European Union.
More than 156,000 migrants, most of whom are from Serbia, have crossed the Hungarian border illegally this year, according to the country's interior ministry.
Amid the crisis, Hungary has toughen its asylum policy, which was condemned by Brussels and numerous rights groups. In late August, Hungary completed the construction of a 108-mile fence on the country’s southern border with Serbia. The Hungarian authorities said that the erected fence would be accompanied by a more permanent 13-foot wall.
