Migrant crisis: Austria to let people in from Hungary

Some of the migrants had small children in pushchairs with them

The Austrian chancellor has said his country and Germany have agreed to let migrants cross their borders from Hungary.

Werner Faymann’s announcement came after Hungary began bussing migrants to the Austrian border.

They include hundreds who defied attempts to register them in Budapest and began walking to the border.

European Union states are struggling to agree on how to deal with an unprecedented surge in migrants.

Budapest’s surprise decision to lay on buses followed several days of chaotic scenes.

Those travelling on foot were among thousands camped outside Keleti station in Budapest, while another group fled along railway tracks in Bicske, to the west of the Hungarian capital, from a train stopped by police.

The BBC’s Matthew Price, who has been travelling with those walking along the main road to Vienna, said there was fear among the migrants that they would be arrested rather than sent to the border.

Explaining the move, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said the government was despatching buses so the country’s transport network would not become “paralysed”.

Buses have also been arriving to collect migrants who have been camped outside Keleti station in central Budapest.

They are to take people to Hegyeshalom, on the border with Austria.

Mr Faymann said he would allow the migrants continued passage because of the “emergency situation” on Hungary’s borders.

He said the decision came after talks with his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, adding he expected Hungary to respect any EU quotas for asylum seekers.

BBC