Hundreds begin walking along highway heading for Austria as one person dies in standoff at suburban train station
BUDAPEST—Hundreds of fed-up migrants began walking along a highway toward Austria and a migrant died amid a tense standoff at a suburban train station, as Hungary appeared increasingly overwhelmed in its efforts to keep a grip on thousands hoping to reach Western Europe.
The country has seen daily chaos since police began preventing migrants from boarding trains heading farther into the European Union—many hoping to reach Germany—but the scene appeared increasingly dramatic on Friday, with flare-ups of frustration by migrants in several spots.
Some 500 people who have been camping out for several days at Budapest’s international train station packed up and started the 220-kilometer, or 137-mile, journey from Budapest to Austria on foot. A man at the front of the march waved a large EU flag and one on crutches wore a poster of German Chancellor Angela Merkel around his neck.
That came as a standoff between police and a group of around 500 migrants at a train station in the town of Bicske who were refusing to be transferred to a nearby refugee camp turned deadly. Police said a man who was among about 350 people to break out of the train collapsed, but emergency workers were not able to revive him.
The man’s identity isn’t known, police said.
Elsewhere, police said they used tear gas to protect themselves from migrants throwing stones in the town of Roszke, close to the Serbian border, after some 300 people broke through the fence at a camp there. They were later returned by police. People who remained in the camp chanted “freedom” as they faced a line of policemen, television images showed.
The migrants at Roszke felt that it was taking too long to register them, state TV reported. Refugees at such camps are required to register with police to confirm their identities and to have fingerprints taken. They are then taken to migration offices to formally register for asylum.
Hungary has come under fire for its stringent stance, but officials say it is rigorously applying EU asylum rules that require it to register and house all migrants arriving in the country, even though most of them want to settle elsewhere.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed wealthier countries encourage even more refugees by offering relatively high benefits and looser immigration policies.
“Those people are victims who were deceived by traffickers and even by some European politicians,” Mr. Orban said at a meeting of Central European leaders to address the crisis. ”They were given an impression as if there’s a possibility for them to get into Western countries and now they’re confronted with the reality at the Hungarian border where neither Austria nor Germany would issue visas.”
ENLARGEHungary’s parliament on Friday passed bills to further curb the influx of migrants.
The bills pass allow the government to order a state of emergency because of mass migration and enable authorities to punish migrants who damage the recently-completed razor-wire fence on its border with non-EU member neighbor Serbia with several years in prison. Another bill allows the government to confine migrants to refugee camps near the Serbian border, with no entry further into the country but only back to Serbia.
Human rights organization the Council of Europe had called on the Hungarian Parliament to reject the proposals.
“The Hungarian government’s stance on refugees is deeply regrettable,” said Nils Muizniek, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. The planned legal measures “are a bad move which would have further deleterious effects on asylum-seekers,” Mr. Muizniek added.
In Bicske, many had rushed onto the train in Budapest on Thursday in the mistaken belief that it was heading farther into the EU. It remains stuck there, where most on board were refusing to cooperate with police trying to perform identity checks.
ENLARGEThe migrants in Bicske will be transferred to the nearby refugee camp, the head of the police’s border control unit Col. Laszlo Balazssaid at a news conference Friday. Activists have criticized living conditions at the already overcrowded camp. Police offered the migrants water and food, which many refused, Mr. Balazs said.
Also Friday, there was a fight between migrants and ultranationalists at the Keleti central railway station before a Hungary-Romania soccer match. Police were now keeping them apart.
Hungary detained a record daily number of 3,313 migrants Thursday, pushing this year’s total to 162,980 versus 44,709 in the whole of last year, police said.
Hungary is part of the EU’s Schengen passport-free travel zone which allows travelers to easily cross borders. Officials have warned that the crisis puts the policy at risk.
On Friday, the country got backing from other Central European leaders, who pushed back strongly against a German-backed plan for a redistribution of migrants among EU states, instead urging the bloc to protect its external borders and discourage more people from trying to reach Europe.
Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com
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