The Exodus: Thousands of refugees given unhindered access into Germany And Austria (PHOTOS)
For weeks while they traveled a punitive road,
Europe cast a cold and callous eye on their unwelcome progress. On
Saturday, for the first time since fleeing their troubled homelands,
they could set foot in their promised land -- and it came with a German
face so friendly that it brought some newcomers to tears of joy.
More than 7,000 Arab and Asian asylum seekers
surged across Hungary's western border into Austria and Germany
following the latest in a string of erratic policy U-turns by Hungary's
immigrant-loathing government. Within hours, travelers predominantly
from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who had been told for days they could
not leave Hungary were scooped from roadsides and Budapest's central
train station and placed on overnight buses, driven to the frontier with
Austria and allowed to walk across as a new morning dawned.
Sad situation happening in the world. See more photos below...
They were met with wholly unexpected hospitality
featuring free high-speed trains, seemingly bottomless boxes of
supplies, and gauntlets of well-wishers offering trays of candy for
everyone and cuddly toys for the tots in mothers' arms. Even adults
absorbed the scenes of sudden welcome with a look of childlike
wonderment as Germans and Austrians made clear that they had reached a
land that just might become a home.
"I'm very glad to be in Germany. I hope that I
find here a much better life. I want to work," said Homam Shehade, a
37-year-old Syrian shopkeeper who spent 25 days on the road. He left
behind his parents, a brother, wife, a 7-year-old boy and a 2
1/2-year-old girl. He hopes to bring them all to Germany. Until then, he
said: "I hope that God protects them from the planes and bombs. My shop
was bombed and my house was bombed."
As the migrants departed Hungary, leaders took a
few final swipes at their departing guests and those considered foolish
enough to host them.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters that
Hungary collected and drove the migrants to the border only because they
were posing a public menace, particularly by snarling traffic and rail
lines west of Budapest when they mounted a series of surprise breakouts
from police-controlled positions Friday and headed for Austria in large
groups on foot.
Orban said the people being taken by Germany
mostly come "from regions that are not ravaged by war. They just want to
live the kind of life that we have. And I understand that, but this is
impossible. If we let everybody in, it's going to destroy Europe."
Orban said Hungary was determined to staunch the
flow of foreigners traversing the country. He criticized European Union
plans to reach a bloc-wide agreement at a summit Sept. 14 committing
each nation to accept higher quotas of foreigners to shelter, arguing
that this would only spur more one-way traffic.
"What will it solve if we divide 50,000 or 100,000 migrants among us, when uncountable millions will be on the way?" Orban said.
A central Budapest rally by Hungary's
third-largest party, the neo-fascist Jobbik, underscored why many of
those seeking sanctuary in Europe wanted to get through the country as
quickly as possible. Earlier in the week, many of the same Jobbik
activists traveled south to the border with Serbia to hurl verbal abuse
point-blank at newly arrived travelers.
Jobbik leader Gabor Vona told the crowd of 300
waving Hungarian and party flags "that Hungary belongs to the
Hungarians. We like everybody, we respect everybody - but we don't want
anybody coming here."
Other speakers branded supporters of refugee
rights "traitors" and "scum." Activists' placards included appeals for
"Deportation, not work permits!" and "Border closures! We don't want
immigrants!"
The contrast could not have been greater in
Vienna's central train station. When around 400 asylum seekers arrived
on the morning's first border train, charity workers offered supplies
displayed in labeled shopping carts containing food, water and packages
of hygiene products for men and women. Austrian onlookers cheered the
migrants' arrival, with many shouting "Welcome!" in both German and
Arabic. One Austrian woman pulled from her handbag a pair of children's
rubber rain boots and handed them to a Middle Eastern woman carrying a
small boy.
Sami Al Halbi, a 28-year-old veterinarian from
Hama in Syria, said he fled to avoid mandatory military service. "They
asked me to join the army. I am educated. For years I've been holding a
pen. I do not want to hold a weapon," he said. "We all want to have a
better future."
It got better as travelers continued west on more
trains, some of them specially provided for the migrants. As Austria's
government noted, virtually none of those coming intended to seek asylum
before reaching Germany, the Eurozone powerhouse that has pledged in
particular to aid Syrians fleeing from their 4-year-old civil war.
Germany expects to receive a staggering 800,000 asylum seekers this
year.
In Munich's central station, the first arrivals
from Hungary received sustained cheering and applause. Many who had
endured nights sleeping on crowded concrete floors at Budapest's Keleti
station appeared disoriented as Germans approached them holding trays of
nibbles. Only the youngest appeared quick to accept the new reality,
brightening up joyously as teddy bears were offered as gifts.
"We are giving a warm welcome to these people
today," said Simone Hilgers, spokeswoman for Upper Bavaria government
agencies tasked with providing the migrants immediate support. "We
realize it's going to be a big challenge but everybody, the authorities
and ordinary citizens, are pulling together."
A total of about 6,000 people had come through
Munich by Saturday evening, Hilgers said. All were given food and drink,
and most were housed in temporary accommodation.
The latest arrivals add to the tens of thousands
of migrants who have been streaming each month into Germany, the EU's
most populous nation with 81 million residents. The influx has strained
emergency accommodation and local bureaucracy, triggered sporadic
violence by neo-Nazi extremists, and also inspired empathy from many
more ordinary Germans. Volunteer groups have sprung up to help asylum
seekers find permanent housing and jobs, and to receive free German
language lessons. German media estimate this year's expected bill for
providing sanctuary to be 10 billion euros ($11 billion), should the
forecast 800,000 arrive.
Germany typically places newcomers in housing
earmarked for asylum seekers. They are provided free meals, clothing,
health care and household support, as well as monthly spending money
averaging 143 euros ($160). After three months, they receive restricted
work opportunities. By contrast the migrants left behind a Hungary that
stuck them in sweltering outdoor facilities on the Serbian border, left
any aid to private charities, and pocketed the money they paid to buy
cross-border train tickets that they were blocked from using.
While Saturday's surprise mass movement of
migrants eased immediate pressure on Hungary, officials warned that the
human tide south of Hungary was still rising.
The apparent futility of stopping the migrants'
progress west was underscored when Hungary announced Saturday morning
that its emergency bus services to the border had finished and would not
be repeated. Almost immediately two new groups hit the pavement to
start long walks to the border: about 200 people who walked out of an
open-door refugee camp near the city of Gyor, and about 300 who left
Budapest's central Keleti train station, the epicenter of Hungary's
recent migrant crisis. Hundreds more made their way independently west
on foot and internal train services.
A spokesman for Austria's Interior Ministry,
Karl-Heinz Grundboeck, said more than 7,000 asylum seekers crossed the
border Saturday from Hungary and most traveled by train to Vienna or
beyond.
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