Hungary sealed off a major crossing point at its Serbian border and introduced tighter border control regulations. To fortify the border protection, Budapest deployed around 9,000 soldiers and police officers to the area.
Anyone who is familiar with Game of Thrones will know about the Night’s Watch who guard the border that separates the Seven Kingdoms from the lands beyond. It seems like Hungary is sparing no expense in deploying their own members of the ‘Night’s Watch.’
The wall is planned to be four meters high and 110 miles long and cost around $35 million. Despite criticism from other European Union partners, Hungary’s effort to curb the flow of refugees seems like another Game of Thrones move.
In the fantasy drama ‘The Wall’ is a gigantic fortification which stretches for miles along the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms, defending the kingdom from the ‘wildlings’ that live beyond.
Hungarian migrant fence is being built for keeping the refugees out but how is that the solution to the problem remains unclear. It seems that Hungarians are willing to ignore the issue as long as their ‘kingdom’ is not involved.
In one episode during the show son asks his father, “Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?” His father replied, “That is the only time a man can be brave.” However, the Hungarian Prime Minister is acting far from brave as he feels immensely threatened by the immigrants.
Speaking at a cultural festival in Baile Tusnad, Romania back in June, Orban accused the European Union of failing to defend its citizens from the “masses of illegal immigrants,” who he said threatened the cultural identity of European countries and contributed to increased terrorism, unemployment and criminality.
Maybe Orban should borrow some dragons from Game of Thrones and place them next to the wall so that they can breathe fire at the vulnerable refugees?
But then again who needs fire when there is tear gas and water cannons. On Tuesday, Hungarian riot police fired teargas and water cannon over the border with Serbia on frustrated crowds, who had gathered there in thousands when Hungary closed its border. Hungary’s actions received criticism from the Serbian government, which said its northern neighbors had no right to fire into Serbian territory.
According to a recent report by Amnesty International, many migrants traveling through the Balkans have experienced abuse and violence by government officials and smugglers.
The number of people arrested at the Serbian-Hungarian border has gone up more than 2500 percent since 2010. Amnesty has criticized Hungary's new anti-immigration measures, saying they will put more lives at risk.
Putting lives at risk is another thing R.R. Martin became famous for on social media. He has a well-earned reputation for breaking fans’ hearts by killing beloved characters in his “Song of Ice and Fire” novels, and apparently, it’s only going to get worse from here.
Let’s hope Hungary doesn’t entirely follow in Martin’s tracks.
