Hungary scrambles to confront record migrant influx

AGENCIES ROSZKE, AUGUST 26 Hungary made plans on Wednesday to reinforce its southern border with helicopters, mounted police and dogs, and was also considering using the army as record numbers of migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, passed through coils of razor-wire into Europe.Over 2,500 mainly Syrians, Afghans and Pakistanis crossed from Serbia into the European Union on Tuesday, over, under or around a razor-wire barrier into the hands of an over-stretched police force that struggled to fingerprint and process them. Unrest flared briefly at a crowded reception centre in the border region of Roszke, with tear gas fired. Another 1,300 were detained by 9.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) on Wednesday. More will have passed unnoticed, walking through gaps in a border fence being built by Hungary into a Europe groping for answers to its worst refugee crisis since World War Two. In Germany, which expects to receive 800,000 asylum-seekers this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel was due in the eastern town of Heidenau, near Dresden, the scene of violent clashes over the weekend involving far-right militants protesting against the arrival of around 250 refugees, underscoring the social tensions unleashed by the influx. With frequent attacks on refugee shelters and warnings of rising xenophobia, Merkel’s cabinet agreed to double the funding this year to help towns cope with the record number of arrivals. Hungary, which is part of Europe’s Schengen passport-free travel zone, is building a 3.5-metre high fence along its 175-km (110-mile) border with Serbia in a bid to keep them out, taking a hard line on what right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban says is a threat to European security, prosperity and identity.