Multiple shots were fired at a joint Serbian-Hungarian patrol group in the vicinity of Mórahalom on the late evening of 21 September The shots were presumably fired from several automatic weapons most likely by members of human trafficking gangs with illegal immigrant backgrounds observed at least four single shots followed by multiple short bursts of fire presumably originating from several automatic weapons fired from the direction of Serbia into the airspace and towards them This incident occurred at the temporary security border fence in the Mórahalom area at 10:30 p.m The police officers reported the sound of a bullet striking very close to them and immediately decided to withdraw from the area It is highly likely that the shots were fired by members of human trafficking gangs with illegal immigrant backgrounds Both the Serbian and Hungarian sides held a border meeting to investigate this border violation The Csongrád-Csanád County Police initiated legal proceedings against unknown suspects on suspicion of committing the crime of misuse of firearms or ammunition a man crossed into Hungary from Serbia armed with a machine gun to secure the entry of 13 illegal immigrants the group was stopped and apprehended by the police just half a kilometre from the border According to a statement from the National Police a surveillance camera operator noticed a man climbing over a ladder from the Serbian side onto the road established between the temporary security border fences and provided cover for the 13 illegal immigrants who followed him There were no patrolling officers nearby at the time two other groups of illegal immigrants were being apprehended a bit farther away the armed ‘guard’ climbed back over the ladder into Serbia The police stopped the group of illegal aliens shortly afterwards at a distance of approximately half a kilometre from the border escorted the 13 illegal migrants back to the temporary security border fence These are not the first occasions of border incidents involving armed criminals. As Hungarian Conservative reported in August the Prime Minister’s Chief Security Advisor György Bakondi drew attention at the time to the fact that ‘weapons have appeared’ in Serbia near the border and that the public security situation had become critical in the settlements near the border criminal gangs fought each other in uninhabited parts of the area but since they have also appeared in the settlements where they engage in shootings Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Looking to access paid articles across multiple policy topics Interested in policy insights for EU professional organisations Seven people died and four others were injured when a vehicle carrying migrants crashed into a flower shop in Hungary as the driver sought to dodge the police Forensic investigators examine the site of a vehicle crash in Morahalom The van was transporting migrants when it crashed into a house while fleeing a police check just before midnight Seven people have been killed and four others injured who was arrested at the scene of the crash A large number of migrants have been found dead inside a truck on a highway in Austria Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Austrian Chancellor compares Hungary's treatment of refugees to the Nazi deportation of Jews as Hungary's president Orbán pledges to reduce the number of migrants entering the country to zero I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Record numbers of migrants are entering Hungary just days ahead of a tough crackdown from a government whose treatment of refugees has already drawn comparisons with Nazi Germany Hungary’s president Viktor Orbán has promised that he will reduce the number of migrants entering the country to zero from Tuesday But the numbers have been gradually increasing in recent weeks and exceeded 4,000 for the first time this weekend The news comes as Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann likened Hungary's treatment of refugees to the Nazi persecution of Jews He said that refugees arrive in Austria from Hungary "afraid "Sticking refugees in trains and sending them somewhere completely different to where they think they're going reminds us of the darkest chapter of our continent's history," said Faymann The Chancellors comments referred to events earlier this month where refugees who thought they were on a train to Austria were stopped at a Hungarian camp for asylum seekers The government is expected to give its army a much stronger role in guarding its border in the coming week and a new system comes into force on Tuesday that will see refugees processed in special transit zones The country is also looking to accelerate the building of a fence across its border with Serbia Hungarian police said that over 4,331 people had come into the country from Serbia on Saturday – a record since the crisis began and likely an underestimate since many people are making their way into the country by avoiding police The numbers over the weekend make it the first time that police estimates have shown over 4,000 people entering the country Tensions over Europe's refugee crisis have risen in the country in recent weeks. Last week, footage emerged of police throwing food at refugees that was labelled "inhumane". Much of Hungary’s attempts to crackdown on the number of people entering the country begin from Tuesday. A large part of the plan to reduce numbers to zero will rely on its plans for special processing zones, which will allow the country to allow migrants in without processing them as official numbers. The new processing zones will allow Hungary to process refugees without legally allowing them into the state, according to Hungary’s justice minister. It will work like the transit zones of airports – an area located in the country that doesn’t count as part of it for immigration purposes. Activists worry that the move will push asylum seekers out of the normal routes of legal appeal. Hungary is also seeking to bring tough new measures at its borders, including a stepping up of military involvement that is expected to be major. The army has been conducting exercises in preparation for its stationing at the border, according to Hungarian state news. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Attempts of entering Hungary illegally along the Hungarian-Serbian border are becoming extraordinarily intense The Prime Minister’s Chief Security Advisor György Bakondi said on Tuesday that groups of 140–180 individuals have been attempting to cross the border fence using ladders in the areas of Ásotthalom and Mórahalom ready to move those who towards the West those who manage to cross ‘The police and border patrol units are engaged in a proper combat,’ the Chief Security Advisor reported He highlighted that illegal migrants regularly damage the technical barriers and even police officers with wooden sticks and metal projectiles fired from slingshots Seven officers have already been injured by them this year Bakondi drew attention to the fact that ‘weapons have appeared’ in Serbia near the border and ‘the public security situation has become critical’ in settlements near the border criminal gangs fought against each other in uninhabited parts of the area but now they have also appeared in the settlements where they engage in shootings a recent grenade attack on the house of an individual who frequently criticised illegal migration This is noteworthy because it is the first case since 2015 that criminal gangs have intentionally targeted civilians He then expressed the opinion that ‘this signals the arrival of new The good news is that Serbia is actively participating in border control tasks in line with its European integration efforts Serbia cooperates with the Hungarian and Austrian authorities often deploying special police units in the border region Bakondi labelled the European Union’s expectation of providing open camps for illegal migrants as demoralising for law enforcement forces and the public The Chief Security Advisor believes that the European Parliament elections next year could bring about a change concerning the tackling of migration ‘A parliamentary majority and European Commission may emerge that deals with illegal migration in accordance with the danger and security risks it poses,’ he said Hungary participates in a number of cooperative efforts in the fight for European security Hungarian police forces are present in the Hungarian-Austrian-Serbian cooperation framework at the Serbian-North Macedonian border and a number of officers are also involved in the guarding of the North Macedonian-Greek border and other Frontex missions the Mediterranean area of Europe witnessed the arrival of over 36,000 migrants nearly twice the figure recorded during the same timeframe in 2022 sourced from the United Nations‘ Refugee Agency marks the highest count since the peak of the refugee crisis in 2015 in response to nation-state measures taken after the migrant crisis that originated in 2014 and climaxed in 2015 the European Union‘s Court of Justice ruled that member states cannot independently control their borders without prior authorisation from the EU mandatory migration quotas were introduced have refused to admit the number of asylum seekers allocated to them and many old EU Member States have in practice also not fulfilled their obligations in this regard At the peak of the migration crisis in 2015 around one million illegal immigrants entered Europe through the so-called Western Balkan route the most popular route for illegal immigration is still the Western Balkan land route Since the Serbian authorities do not deport those apprehended but rather transport them from the northern to the southern border of the country migrants often set out on their journey again and a few days later reach the Hungarian border where they keep attempting to enter the European Union not refraining from violence against border guards Hungary has become one of the main crossing points who arrive to Europe via Greece and travel through Serbia and Hungary on their way to countries in northern Europe like Germany and Sweden Local soldiers of the Hungarian Army's technical unit set the first elements of the 150 meters long metal fence at the Hungarian-Serbian border nearby Morahalom village.Csaba Segesvari/AFP / Getty Images Ghana walk along a road after crossing illegally the border between Serbia and Hungary.Arpad Kurucz Police escort migrants from Syria into a police van after they crossed the border from Serbia to Hungary.Arpad Kurucz Hungarian soldiers build a border control fence near Morahalom Hungary.Darko Vojinovic/The Associated Press Migrants from Syria are seen after crossing illegally the border between Serbia and Hungary.Arpad Kurucz Migrants from Syria rest after crossing illegally the border between Serbia and Hungary.Arpad Kurucz Migrant women are pictured through a window in a migrant center in the southern Serbian town of Presevo.Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP / Getty Images Hungarian interior minister Sandor Pinter (C) and Hungarian Defence Minister Csaba Hende (L) answer a journalist's question during a press conference next to the first portion of a temporary fence the Hungarian military is erecting on its border to Serbia in an effort to keep out refugees..Arpad Kurucz Turn off the highway that winds among the farms near Serbia’s border with Hungary walk into the\n shoulder-high weeds and you find them: hundreds of people They’re hiding here – near the end of epic overland journeys – waiting for the right\n moment to continue their march north toward what they hope are new and better lives in the European Union,\n or even Canada which is more a reflection of the palpable edginess here than\n the density of the foliage The Jungle is just 10 kilometres from the Hungarian border and the gateway to\n the 26 countries in Europe where people can move across state lines without visas The migrants have been\n dreaming about reaching the Schengen Area since they left their homes in Afghanistan “It took us six months,” said an exhausted-looking Sajid Khan a wiry\n 18-year-old from Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan who made the almost 7,000-kilometre overland\n journey via Pakistan Greece and Macedonia with four other young men Swollen and blistered\n feet poke out from their battered plastic sandals Khan and his fellow travellers spent a recent afternoon waiting in the sparse shade of the forests\n here each sitting beside a backpack full of belongings they carried on their journey A short walk away in\n the next clearing sat another group of perhaps 20 men A little\n further into the trees behind an abandoned brick factory were three other makeshift camps where dozens\n more Afghan men waited for nightfall and the chance to continue their journey north There were several\n more camps deeper in the woods explaining that they sleep outdoors in small groups so\n they can scatter more easily if the police approach The migrants clustered at The Jungle are part of an unprecedented wave of tens of thousands of\n asylum-seekers from the Middle East and Central Asia who have arrived in Europe this year The overland\n route they took is the second prong of the great migration under way from the war-torn regions of the world\n toward the relative stability and prosperity of Europe The arrival of more than 120,000 people this year who crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach the islands\n of Italy and Greece has captured international attention and provoked heated debate within the EU over how\n to deal with the crisis However the flow of refugees overland via the Balkans is nearly as rapid – more\n than 60,000 migrants crossed from Serbia into Hungary in the first five months of this year – and just as\n overwhelming to the countries trying to deal with this new front in the drama some of them were poor in their own countries of nations,” Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa\n Stefanovic said in an interview at his office in the capital city of Belgrade “This is something that\n hasn’t been seen in the last several centuries.” Stefanovic said he expects to continue for several years Serbia is now dotted with\n impromptu camps such as The Jungle Two parks adjacent to the main train station in Belgrade – once a stop\n on the famed Orient Express route connecting Europe to Istanbul and the Middle East beyond – are full most\n nights with hundreds of sleeping migrants While countries such as Hungary and Slovakia to the north have seen mass anti-immigrant protests in\n recent weeks Serbians have largely remained tolerant so far Stefanovic said Serbs are broadly\n sympathetic to the migrants’ plight because many Serbs still remember being forced from their own homes\n during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s But Serbs also know the migrants aren’t here to stay; they’re just passing through on their way\n north Khan was interviewed in\n The Jungle The Globe and Mail followed a pair of green police paddy wagons as they patrolled the border\n towns of Morahalom and Asotthalom their presence during daylight hours doing more to reassure local\n residents than deter the migrants who invariably wait for nightfall to make their move do not take the jobs of Hungarians,” reads one billboard in Morahalom you must respect our culture,” reads another A thousand such signs have recently been\n erected around Hungary by the National Consultation on Immigration and Terrorism a government body\n launched earlier this year that has been criticized by other EU governments for its explicit linking of\n migration to a supposed threat from “terrorists.” “People are scared,” admitted a waiter in Morahalom Hungary announced in June that it was suspending participation in a key EU rule requiring that migrants’\n asylum claims be processed in the country in which they first arrive a rule the migrants were already\n going around by avoiding authorities in EU member states like Greece and Bulgaria along their route Prime Minister Viktor Orban has further rattled Serbia and the EU by vowing to build a 200-kilometre\n wall along his country’s southern border with Serbia “The boat is full,” explained Hungarian government\n spokesman Zoltan Kovacs Austria and Germany have also sent border police to help Serbia better\n patrol its border with Macedonia But the migrants at The Jungle are confident that a Hungarian border wall wouldn’t stop them Not after\n they’ve come this far “Two people who were walking with us died in the mountains between Iran and Turkey because they didn’t\n have water I was lucky because I had this much water left,” said Ali Husseini a 16-year-old Afghan,\n holding his fingers a pencil’s width apart to illustrate his own margin between life and death He said\n he’d been walking for five weeks straight since leaving the Pakistani city of Quetta where his family has\n been living to escape the war in Afghanistan Husseini – who worked in a clothing shop while attending school in Quetta – has\n travelled nearly 6,000 kilometres since leaving home He said he didn’t plan to stop walking until he\n reached his final destination of Sweden which he has heard (correctly) has Europe’s most welcoming asylum\n laws Well aware of the EU’s policy about applying for asylum in the country of first arrival he and many\n others in The Jungle say they plan to keep a low profile even after they’re inside the Schengen Area Husseini reaches Sweden will he walk into a police station and formally declare that he\n wants political asylum from Pakistan and Afghanistan where he says he and his family face persecution and\n violence because they are from the Hazara ethnic minority group “We want to go to Hungary but we want to pass through without giving our fingerprints,” he said,\n speaking for a group of a dozen Afghans he was travelling with offers free language lessons to new immigrants The migrants’ desire to avoid the authorities makes them extremely vulnerable to abuse by both criminals\n and police along the way Husseini said men in police uniforms raided The Jungle one recent night But\n rather than detaining the migrants or directing them to Serbia’s formal system for asylum-seekers Mr.\n Husseini said the uniformed men took money and mobile phones from those they caught then released them to\n continue their journey Losing the mobile phone was as much of a bother for Mr Many of the\n migrants use apps such as Google Maps to make sure they’re headed in the right direction across unfamiliar\n terrain Another English-speaking migrant – a Pakistani who gave his name as “Peter Diamond” – was sporting two\n fresh black eyes and a badly cut face the morning after the raid he said he’d hurt\n himself while “hugging a tree.” Mr who said he was persecuted in Pakistan because he’s Christian,\n said his end goal was to get to Canada and then bring his family there Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recorded testimonies of migrants abused by police\n in Serbia including bribe-taking and illegal “pushbacks,” where\n migrants were driven back over the border they had just crossed and dropped off in contravention of\n national and European laws on the treatment of asylum-seekers said he was aware of the allegations and had ordered an\n investigation into the “isolated incidents.” He said that Serbian and Hungarian police working together,\n had broken up 40 smuggling rings in the past year “These are the people trying to misuse the bad fortune\n of the migrants and take as much money as they can from them,” he said The overland route to Europe can be as dangerous as the Mediterranean Sea crossing smugglers can be hired to take migrants from one border to the next But even the rich migrants\n travelling with their whole families have to dismount and sneak across each border on foot I just kept running,” said\n Mr Other migrants say the hardest\n part was wading across the Evros River that forms Turkey’s border with Greece where every year police find\n bodies of those who failed to make the crossing Others paid smugglers to take them across the Aegean Sea\n on rickety boats Several migrants admitted they’d never heard of Serbia Bulgaria or Macedonia until they\n were told they were in those countries The route from the Middle East to the Balkans shifts with the seasons migrants\n who reach Turkey have little choice but to take their chances crossing either the Evros or the Aegean But\n summer has melted the snow in the Balkan mountain range between Bulgaria and Serbia opening an arduous\n alpine route for the next few months leading to an epidemic of broken ankles and\n twisted knees among the travellers bone pains,\n respiratory issues fleas and lice,” said Milena Radosavljevic a doctor with\n Médecins sans frontières (Doctors Without Borders) who gives free consultations at The Jungle several times\n a week walking hundreds,\n thousands of kilometres.” where the government and police have largely taken a laissez-faire attitude to the camps\n near the train station many migrants pause and gather intelligence from other travellers about the latest\n situation at the Hungarian border and beyond but we don’t have anything left,” said Ibrahim Mohammed,\n speaking in Arabic as he sat sharing crackers with seven other family members – including three girls under\n the age of 12 – in the park across from the station Palestinian refugees who lived in a camp\n on the outskirts of Damascus until the outbreak of Syria’s civil war all had badly blistered feet after\n their 2,800-kilometre overland journey “Right now we don’t know where we’re going tomorrow except to keep\n going north,” said the 49-year-old Mr a factory worker in Damascus before the war Though the Serbian government has recorded a spike in official asylum applications – from 5,000 in 2013,\n to 16,500 last year to more than 35,000 in just the first five months of 2015 – only a tiny fraction of\n those truly want to stay in Serbia (Serbia’s official figures do not include the thousands of Kosovars who\n have also headed north this year fleeing economic collapse in their country Belgrade does not recognize\n Kosovo which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia seven years ago Serbia has been criticized for approving just one asylum request in 2014 while granting temporary\n protection to only five others Stefanovic said Serbia – which is still home to tens of thousands\n of people who are designated as refugees from the wars in Croatia Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo – can not\n do more “We do not have enough space to shelter everybody,” he said “We are already stretched to the maximum.\n We are trying to expand our asylum centres to take some more but to be quite realistic many of these\n people say ‘Listen France.’ Freedom of movement tells us that we have to let them go.” Few here believe Hungary’s planned wall will deter that flow of people they [the migrants] will just find a way to cross it It will raise the level of\n corruption but it will not change anything,” said Jelena Hrnjak a Serbian\n non-government organization that works to combat human trafficking and gender-based violence “I don’t see\n how it will help the situation at all.” Baryal Hussein Khil scoffs at the idea a wall would keep him or any of the others camped in The Jungle\n from pushing forward Khil is in the middle of his second overland journey from\n Afghanistan he made it as far as Wolverhampton in central England where he spent two\n years working at a car wash before he was captured in a police raid and deported back to Kabul is even more dangerous now than when he first fled it seven years ago Khil – his dark hair greying at just 27 years old – said he wants to go through the\n asylum process legally He said he’ll take up residence and look for a job in any EU country that will take\n him you go to jail if you kill a cat or a pigeon hundreds of people are killed every day,” Mr mixing expletives with English he learned\n at a United Nations school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar Hungary is well-known for its thermal baths There are springs and underground reserves basically every second corner of the country you can even find taps that perpetually pour out artesian water for free it is an undeniable fact that Hungary has an abundance of thermal water reserves and other kinds of underground water From Magyarnemzet.hu we know that Hungary has the fifth-largest thermal water reserve in the world This information was shared during the opening ceremony of the annual assembly of the Hungarian Balneology Association Thermal water is also referred to as medicinal water due to its beneficiary effects on people’s health which has immeasurable value — said Sándor Lezsák the deputy speaker of the National Assembly Lakitelek recently caught up with other renowned bathing cities such as Hajdúszoboszló The politician also mentioned a few specific complaints that the water of Lakitelek can be good for the baths of the country are important for another reason too: tradition The politician went on to explain the importance of thermal water and how it is an important part of Hungarian culture there is no speech without mentioning national tragedies like Trianon He said that during the treaty not only two-thirds of the country was taken away the rush for oil led to the exploration of many thermal water reserves and springs Referring to the traditionalist identity the town aims to create Lakitelek was a significant meeting ground during the system change in Hungary 150 thermal baths had operated in the country The secret lies in the geology of the Carpathian Basin Earth’s crust is about 10 kilometres thinner under the basin than the world average This proximity to the magma of the Earth’s mantle helps to heat underground water in lesser depths According to National Geographic there are more than 1,300 thermal springs in the country There is not just one type of thermal water in the country either it is no surprise that wellness and spa culture had been part of the lifestyle for hundreds of years 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