Austria Germany open borders

Date

9/6/2015 9:31:11 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)A migrant carries his children at the railway station in Vienna yesterday.

MUNICH: Austria and Germany threw open their borders yesterday to thousands of exhausted migrants from the east bussed to the frontier by a right-wing Hungarian government that had tried to stop them but was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people.

Left to walk the last yards into Austria rain-soaked migrants many of them refugees from Syria’s civil war were whisked by train and shuttle bus first to Vienna and then on by train to Munich and other cities in Germany.

By early evening about 6000 had arrived in Munich and 2000 more were expected on two trains after midnight. Clapped and cheered as they disembarked new arrivals queued at registration tents to be screened fed and clothed. Munich police said Arabic-speaking interpreters were helping refugees with procedures at the emergency registration centres.

The Austrian and German reception contrasted with the disorder prevalent in Hungary. “It was just such a horrible situation in Hungary” said Omar arriving in Vienna with his family.

After days of chaos Hungary deployed more than 100 buses overnight to take thousands of the migrants who had streamed there from southeast Europe to the Austrian frontier. Austria said it had agreed with Germany to allow the migrants access waiving the asylum rules. Austria said 9000 people had crossed from Hungary.

In Athens a newborn boy was found dead after his migrant parents reached the shores of a Greek island in a boat from Turkey while new scuffles broke out between thousands of migrants and police on another Greek island.

Finnish PM offers home

As Europe continues to grapple with refugee crisis Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila offered to host refugees at his country home.

Speaking on state television the centrist premier said the house which is situated over 500km north of capital Helsinki in the Kempele area was “not being used much at the moment”. “I hope this becomes some kind of people’s movement that will inspire many others to shoulder part of the burden in this refugee housing crisis” he said.

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