Serbia’s border with EU-member Hungary has become a major
crossing point for tens of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and
Africa who are using the so-called Balkan route to enter the EU, while fleeing
poverty or war in their home countries. There is now a sense of urgency to
elude border police and make a successful frontier crossing, before the
Hungarians finished the 175-kilometer (100 mile) razor-wire fence by the end of
the month. Some 1,000 migrants per day tried to cross into Hungary from Serbia
before Hungary announced plans for the fence a few months ago. That number has risen
to 1,500.
“This is what we wanted and there is no way back now,”
whispered Adnan. “We are not afraid. What could be worse than the bloodshed we left
behind in Syria?” The group has about 50 people included a 2-month-old baby and
a boy whose parents drowned when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean.
“Syria is no longer a country, it’s a bloody mess,” said
Rawad Qaq, a dentist from Aleppo who was part of another group. “Where is
Western solidarity now, how can they watch this tragedy unfold in front of
their own eyes and do nothing for us? Just let us go and show you are human.”
As European countries are raising barriers, not tearing them
down and with Hungary building the fence, Serbians fear that their country —
itself still affected by the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s — will now become
a bottleneck for the refugees. Government figures estimate that some 30,000
migrants, mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, are currently stuck in the non
EU-member state. Serbian authorities now seem to be turning a blind eye to the
crossings into Hungary, with Serb policemen even showing migrants which border
routes are safer to take.
Syrians vow to keep on trying — despite arrests and
deportations — until they get into the EU.
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