Hungary reopens border checkpoint with Serbia

“The border crossing is re-opened”, said in a statement, on the police website.

The border was temporarily closed, as about 200 migrants, including children, gathered at the site and sought to cross the border.

Wrapped in blankets, migrants stayed in cold weather at the Keleby border crossing, blocking traffic.

Some migrants held inscriptions in their hands: “we are refugees, not criminals” and “we are leaving the war, not hunger”.

A man told HVG news site that they are protesting peacefully.

“We want to be allowed to continue our journey towards Western Europe”, he said.

Later, migrants were taken by bus to the waiting centres in Serbia, said Svetlana Palic, spokeswoman for the Serbian refugee commissioner.

Their claims will be prosecuted in the same way as those of other asylum seekers”, Palic said.

Several thousand migrants fleeing the war and poverty in their countries have been blocked in the Western Balkans as they seek to enter the most developed countries of Western Europe.

During the 2015 immigrant crisis, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government set up a wire fence at the 175km-long border with Serbia.

Hungary reported that there were more than 3,400 attempts to cross the border during the past month alone.

Officials say most migrants come from war-torn countries in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. /rel