Police in Hungary say an unprecedented number of migrants are entering the country, in a race against time to cross the border into the EU.
Hungary is constructing a six-foot razor wire fence blocking the full length of its 110-mile (175-km) border with Serbia, the effective entry point to the Schengen Area of free movement in Europe.
Officials said police at the border had detained 2,533 migrants on Tuesday alone – up 21 per cent on the 2,093 who entered on Monday and by far the highest figure this year.
That record was also set to rise on Wednesday, with police saying they had already detained 1,300 as of 9.30am local time (7.30am GMT).
The construction of the fence has prompted more and more people to try and cross the border before it is too late, and more still will have passed undetected through the gaps in the unfinished barrier.
In addition to the fence, the Hungarian police are set to deploy an additional six border patrol units – an additional 2,106 officers – chief commissioner Karoly Papp announced at a press conference.
“They don't have and will not get an order to shoot,” he said.
Authorities said over 140,000 migrants had entered Hungary from Serbia to far this year.
The numbers travelling through the Balkans have soared in recent weeks, with 3,000 crossing into Macedonia daily from Greece then whisked by train and bus north to Serbia and beyond.
In Austria, foreign minister Sebastian Kurz described the Europe-wide refugee crisis as a “humanitarian disaster”.
“It’s a humanitarian disaster, a disaster for the European Union as a whole, and there is a pressing need for us to focus on the situation in the western Balkans," he told reporters. Macedonia/Greece Border Crisis
"We have to find a new strategy to support Greece and the western Balkan countries."
Hungarian police officers stand on guard in the refugee camp of the Hungarian-Serbian border Roszke village
Unrest has flared across the Balkans recently, most notably in Macedonia where police opened fire on a group of Syrian migrants with tear gas.
In Roszke, southern Hungary, some 200 migrants were attending a reception centre when scuffles broke out after they refused to be fingerprinted. There, too, police were reported to have used tear gas on refugees.
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EU countries are required by the bloc’s border agency, Frontex, to record the details of asylum-seekers so that, if they later travel to a different country, their original point of entry is known.
Hungarian soldiers build a fence near the town of Morahalom, Hungary.
Serbia said the impact on its own country was growing as Hungary neared completion of its border fence, and that around 10,000 migrants were passing through at any given time.
“The situation will get worse, when winter arrives. We're getting ready to look after double that number,” Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Additional reporting by agencies
The Road To Europe
1 Greek Islands
Coastguard rescues 877 over the weekend near islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Kos. Hundreds more make crossing using inflatable dinghies
2 Macedonia/Greek border
Violent scuffles have broken out as Macedonian police attempt to control the flow of hundreds of migrants entering from Greece
3 Serbia
Thousands enter on foot from Macedonia, with 8,000 registering with Frontex in Presevo over 24 hours. Many take trains and buses towards Hungary
4 Hungary
Rush to build anti-migrant barbed-wire fence along Serbian border, in effect the entry point to the EU
5 Austria
Two vans packed with migrants collide, injuring 37, near Hungarian border. Dozens more flee police, as do suspected smugglers
6 Germany
Dozens of police injured over weekend as neo-Nazis try to block opening of new asylum-seekers’ shelter near Dresden
7 Sweden
Signs of backlash over expected 74,000 asylum-seekers to arrive this year, many from Syria, as Roma people are attacked
8 Calais, France
Weekend Eurotunnel delays after migrants boarded train to Britain, despite security crackdown on number trying to enter terminal.
