Hungary Reopens Train Station, Migrants Still Stranded
Hungary reopened Budapest’s main train station Thursday after police ended a two-day blockade aimed at preventing migrants from boarding trains to destinations in the European Union, but it was not clear whether trains bound for Austria, Germany and Slovakia would be allowed to cross the border.
At least one announcement at Budapest’s Keleti station said trains to Western Europe were “indefinitely” suspended, reporters at the scene said. There was no immediate explanation from Hungarian police or other authorities about the situation and migrants were seen pouring into the station after it was reopened.
About 3,000 people have been camped outside Keleti station since earlier in the week amid increasingly squalid conditions and despite the efforts of volunteers distributing water, food, medicine and disinfectants. Many want to reach Germany or Sweden where their asylum applications are more likely to be approved.
The chaotic scenario comes as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is due to meet EU leaders in Brussels later Thursday to discuss the crisis.
On Wednesday, the shocking human cost of the crisis — a humanitarian disaster on a scale not seen in Europe since the end of World War II — was made explicit when images circulated of a small boy’s lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach.