Hundreds of migrants bused back to Serbia after amassing at Hungarian border
By ARTHUR LYONS
Serbian police on Friday morning bused 500 to 700 illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East back to asylum centers in Serbia after they had amassed at the Hungarian border on Thursday night.
The migrants, most of whom were Syrian, Afghani, Yemeni, Moroccan, and Palestinian, arrived at the Kelebia-Tomba border crossing last night when they started to protest and attempted to enter Hungary, Balkan Insight reports.
As the caravan gathered at the Serbian-Hungarian border, they were met with barricades and Hungarian border guards who were determined to stop them. Hours later, Serbia’s Defence Minister, Aleksandr Vulin, visited the group and said that had been manipulated and “brought here by false promises that someone would open the border for them”.
Vulin accused NGOs of encouraging the migrants to make their way to the border without any guarantee that they would be able to cross into the European Union.
“It is a shame that some groups mislead the migrants in Serbia with falsified news and rumors that Hungary has opened its borders,” Vulin said.
Not long after, in the early hours on Friday morning, Serbian authorities collected the convoy of migrants, placed them onto buses, and transported them back to asylum centers further inside the country.
The ordeal comes about a week after Hungarian border police managed to push back a group of 71 migrant invaders who managed to push through a vulnerable section of border fencing along the Serbian border.
In January alone, the Hungarian government reported 3,400 illegal entry attempts.
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