Refugees try to beat Hungary crackdown

Hungary sent refugees by special trains direct to the Austrian border, trying to offload record numbers streaming into the country before a crackdown by the right-wing government.

Hungary is threatening to arrest and jail anyone caught trying to cross undetected its southern border from Serbia as of today, and to hold or expel asylum seekers under new rules adopted to stem the flow through the Balkans to western Europe.

Yesterday, police said 5,353 migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, had been recorded entering from Serbia, which is outside the EU. More than 5,800 crossed on Sunday, the most in a single day this year.