Current affairs TV channel M1 reported that a small number of migrants indeed managed to cross the border. Police stopped all vehicles at checkpoints when it became apparent that migrants had spread out in all directions, according to a M1 correspondent.
The illegal attempt to cross the border took place at around 5.30am in Röszke, a town on the border between Hungary and Serbia. Several members of the group who entered Hungary were arrested while police prevented others from getting through, the statement said.
Csongrad County Police Headquarters told MTI that 60 people stormed the border en masse and a border guard fired three warning shots. Four arrests were made and the area was closed down, the spokesperson said.
The working group on migration affairs held a session in the attendance of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The interior minister, Sandor Pinter, told a subsequent press conference that the border defense system had functioned properly during the incident.
He said the Hungarian authorities had learned last week that groups of migrants would try to enter Hungary illegally at several points along the border. He added that the police force had been fully prepared for the attempts and had succeeded in thwarting them.
Karoly Papp, the interior ministry’s director general for public security, told the same press conference that groups of migrants had made illegal entry attempts at the Röszke 2 crossing in two waves, at 5.20am and next at 5.30am. Police arrested four migrants, he said, adding that legal proceedings have been launched against them.
Gyorgy Bakondi, the prime minister’s chief domestic security adviser, said the Serbia-Hungary border had come under massive pressure recently, with 3 400 illegal entry attempts made so far this month.
Conservative opposition party Jobbik reminded in a statement that they have been demanding the government since 2010 to restore the Border Guard, which was dismantled by the previous, socialist-liberal governments. According to the party, border protection is extremely important and Hungary needs an independent agency for that, instead of making it a responsibility of the police.
During the Migration Crisis of 2015, a large mob of migrants attacked the border crossing there. In September 2015, the police were actively searching for the ringleaders of the attack on the border crossing. They stated that the attack against the state border was an act of terrorism, and that they wanted to find the leaders of the mob. The police website posted the appeal in Hungarian, English, German, and Arabic.
Croatia’s asylum system collapsed within a day, ruined by human traffickers, the mob charged the border, the Hungarian Government spokesperson stated at a press conference held in Beremend in Baranya County at the time.
When guards fired warning shots on Tuesday, most of the crowd ran back into Serbia as the raw surveillance footage of the assault recorded by security cameras on the border at Röszke, showed.
The Hungarian authorities were alerted to what was happening during the violent attempt in progress to breach the border fence.
One of the migrants shown climbing over the fence, was the leader, as the recording shows and he was the one who mapped out how one can break through the border.
The mob came from Horgos, which is in Serbia. Hungarian authorities were awaiting them and captured the illegal migrants.
Three security guards were in the border control building, according to Hungarian reporter Attila Császár. When the shots were fired, the mob started running back in the direction of Serbia.
The border station is guarded by armed personnel. There is a steel gate which was open at the time, because this is a legal crossing station. This gate was built after 2015.
Even though police captured four migrants, some six or seven of them are still on the loose and the police are looking for them.
One comment
Once again Hungary’s border defenses, both physical and human, have worked to frustrate the latest attempt by illegals to swarm the border. The Hungarians are well-advised to be on their guard as these incidents are probably only the first in a series of probes by ithose who traffic illegal migrants. They are trying to find weak points in Hungary’s border security. That information could prove useful to organized criminal groups smuggling illegals as the numbers will likely increase with the onset of warmer weather and better travel conditions.
Hungary’s neighbors learned a lot from the 2015 “Walking Jihad”. Croatia and Slovenia have both strengthened their border defenses, and continue to do so. In fact, Croatia’s border force opposite the Bihac region of northewest Bosnia has frustrated the so-called “mosque route” for almost three years now, stalling most of them in Bosnia. The Croats and the Slovenes have been working hard to upgrade border fences and barriers, and have assigned additional personnel to border protection. Like other states in the region, they are concerned about what this spring will bring in terms of increased illegal migrants.
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