Border Closings Are Leaving Desperate Migrants Trapped in the Balkans

time.com ^ | Sept. 16, 2015 | Rebecca Collard

[dennisw]

Hungary has sealed its frontier with Serbia, using a 110-mile long fence lined with layers of razor wire and units of army and police. Now hundreds of migrants—mostly Syrians, Iraqis, Afghanis and Pakistanis—wait at the Horgos border crossing in Serbia, hoping to be let in. Today, clashes erupted there between the refugees, who threw rocks and burning tires, and police who lobbed tear gas and sprayed water cannons on the crowd.

Migrants fear they have nowhere to go as Hungary and Serbia crack down on the movement of refugees

Refugees Crowd at the Gates of Fortress Europe This Syrian Refugee Wants to Swim to Europe

In a small Serbian town, three young Iraqis wait at a bus stop next to a small park.

“We are going to Croatia,” says Alaa Kamal, who hails from Baghdad. Over the summer, this park in the center of Kanijza, which is just a few kilometers from the Hungarian border, served as a gathering point for refugees attempting to cross the frontier. Groups would meet here and set off on foot toward Hungary. Now the park is mostly empty.

Kamal and friends tried to cross into Hungary on Monday night, using the railway tracks near the Hungarian town of Rozske, but found the way already blocked.

“We heard it will close on Tuesday,” says Kamal. Their hopes were dashed. “The women were crying.”

At one point a rumor spread that Hungary had opened the gates. Parents grabbed their children and belongings and ran to the front, only to be met with more tear gas. “What is happening? Is it open or what?” asks one man as he ran away from the tear gas carrying a toddler.

By evening refugees begin leaving the Horgos border crossing. Buses arrived to take people to a camp in Kanijza.

[Bikkuri]

“Desparate migrants”.. yeah, right.... but I am preaching to the choir here.

[I Hired Craig Livingstone]

20-ish young men. So desperate...