Video Of Camp Shows Migrants Being `Treated Like Animals'
Hungarian police have been filmed tossing food into a sea of hands at one of the country's refugee camps near border with Serbia, in scenes labelled “inhumane“. Footage shared by an Austrian politician shows armed police, some with riot gear and face masks on, throwing packages of food into a crowd of mostly young men and children.
About 300 refugees at the Hungarian border town of Roszke were filmed during chaotic scenes on Wednesday by Michaela SpritzendorferEhrenhauser. The footage was then shared by her husband, Austrian politician Alexander Spritzendorfer, according to ABC News. The woman who shot the video said the migrants were being treated like “animals“.
Human Rights Watch's emergency director Peter Bouckaert said people were being held like “cattle in pens“.“Feeding time for Syrian refugees at Roszke 1 detention camp in Hungary . Inhumane,“ he said. The footage has emerged amid increased criticism of the Hungarian government's handling of the crisis on its borders. Hungary says it is investigating the scenes at the camp in Roszke.
Hungary , a key transit country for migrants and refugees trying to reach richer and more generous EU countries such as Germany and Sweden, is racing to construct a fence along its border with Serbia by early October to stem the flow. More than 170,000 migrants have crossed into Hungary from Serbia so far this year. Hungary has also increased the number of soldiers building its controversial anti-migrant border fence to 3,800.
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban warned on Friday that his police would take tougher action from next week against a wave of migrants who he said had rebelled against authorities, seized railway stations and refused to be registered. Most try to avoid being re gistered in Hungary for fear of being stranded there or returned there later on, encouraged by a temporary agreement by Germany and Austria to accept refugees. “Considering that we are facing a rebellion by illegal migrants, police have done their job in a remarkable way , without using force,“ Orban told reporters.
UN welcomes EU's refugee plan
The UN welcomed a EU proposal on Friday to take 160,000 refugees and called for reception centres to be set up immediately in Greece, Italy and Hungary. The UNHCR welcomed an offer by US to take 10,000 Syrian refugees but said “the US could and should do much more“.
Anish Kapoor for more Syrians in UK
India-born sculptor Anish Kapoor is spearheading a campaign to call on Britain to take in more Syrian refugees.Some of UK's cultural stalwarts including Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, director Joe Wright and his wife Anoushka Shankar have joined the campaign.
Camerawoman who kicked kid says sorry
A Hungarian TV station that employed a camerawoman who kicked and tripped migrants fleeing from police this week was offline on Friday, with its website blaming hackers for the outage. Earlier, the camerawoman Petra Laszlo had apologised, writing a letter regreting her behaviour.
