Volunteers defy Hungarian govt to welcome migrants

Call them Hungary’s good Samaritans. While the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has toughened asylum laws in response to a tide of weary immigrants, ordinary citizens in the southern city of Szeged are taking them into their care.

A punishingly hot sun shines down on Szeged’s central train station on a July afternoon. A handful of passengers hurry out of a brand new air-conditioned tramway and makes straight for the station’s beckoning shade. A few metres away from the main entrance, a group of around 40 Afghan refugees stands in the sun. They are a cluster of families with infants and small groups of single, young men. In the square three water fountains serve as public baths. The migrants patiently take turns brushing their teeth, shaving or simply splashing their faces, acts punctuated by bursts of laughter.

The scene has become commonplace in Szeged, a regional capital of 160,000 inhabitants. Hungary’s third-largest city sits near its borders with Serbia and Romania, making it a magnet for migrants bound for Western Europe.

Both Hungary and Serbia have been dealing with an avalanche of refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan in recent months. Officials and people on the ground say they are growing in numbers: Budapest announced on July 30 that the symbolic 100,000 mark had been reached. As many as 200,000 or 300,000 refugees could arrive by the end of the year, according to estimates, compared to a relatively tame 43,000 immigrants for all of 2014...
  france24.com
3/8/15
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