Budapest, September 5 (MTI) – The authorities are in control of the situation and everyone is safe in Hungary, state secretary of the interior ministry, Karoly Kontrat, told a press conference held by police late on Saturday, following a meeting with the government’s operative staff.
Kontrat said the operative staff established that its decision taken late on Friday had been fully implemented by the relevant organisations and traffic is uninterrupted on the country’s motorways and railway lines. The situation at Keleti railway station has also improved in the wake of the railway company’s decision to resume international services.
Keleti station, Budapest
He said 728 illegal migrants crossing the southern border had been apprehended by 4.30pm on Saturday, increasing the number of illegal migrants stopped by police this year to 167,006. Laszlo Balazs, border control chief of the national police headquarters, said without specifying numbers that migrants were walking in columns in Gyor-Moson-Sopron, Fejer and Pest counties, escorted by police.
Röszke, Serbian-Hungarian border
He said Austrian police have been securing westbound traffic on the M1 motorway since 5.20pm.
The way from Budapest to Vienna
There are currently around 600 migrants at Keleti railway station, he added.
Arpad Szep, director for refugee affairs of the Immigration and Citizenship Office, said 1,342 asylum claims had been registered by 4pm on Saturday, more than the previous day. There are 2,891 migrants at the reception centres, where everything is calm, he added.
Győr
Answering a question from MTI, Kontrat confirmed an earlier statement by government office chief Janos Lazar, who said the provision of buses to the migrants heading for Austria had been a one-off measure.
Main station, debrecen
Photo: MTI