EU Pledges A Further 1 Billion Euros To Help Agencies Supporting Syrian Refugees

A Croatian border police officer told Reuters on Friday that the Bajakovo checkpoint is "now open to all traffic."

Croatia closed off the Bajakovo checkpoint on Sept. 22 as authorities in the region frayed over the influx of refugees crossing the border from Serbia, according to Reuters.

A further 1 billion euros has been pledged by European Union leaders to help U.N. agencies support Syrian refugees in a new effort to stem Europe's growing crisis.

In the emergency summit in Brussels on Wednesday night, European leaders agreed to up their financial support of transit countries including Greece, Italy, and Turkey, which are currently hosting millions of refugees.

It was agreed that the EU must strengthen its borders, and that some money would be used to step up identification and finger-printing of refugees in Italy and Greece, The Guardian reported.

Donald Tusk, European Council president, said that "the greatest tide of refugees and migrants is yet to come.

"We need to correct the policy of open doors and windows."

The summit was held amid tensions over the controversial quota scheme, announced earlier this week, which will see 120,000 refugees and migrants relocated in Europe. Several member states, including Hungary, which closed its borders last week, oppose the scheme and Slovakia has launched a legal challenge, the BBC reported. The U.K. has exercised its right to opt out of the quota scheme.

While the union usually accepts new policies through unanimous consent, in this case a majority vote was called for, with Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary – currently at the center of Europe's incoming refugee movement – all voting against the proposal.

Read BuzzFeed World News editor Hayes Brown's full report here.

On Sunday, International Development Secretary Justine Greening said that the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) would be given extra resources to help move more Syrian refugees to Britain.

The extra support will allow the UNHCR to identify and prioritize the most vulnerable refugees, including those who need medical attention and who have survived torture.

"Britain has been supporting millions of people caught up in the brutal Syria conflict right from its start four years ago," Greening said. "And we will use our expertise to help speed up the resettlement of 20,000 of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees from the region."

"This is not just morally the right thing to do, but it's also the smart thing to do," she said.

"By taking refugees directly from camps in the region we are ensuring that we reach the most vulnerable, while our aid continues to support others to stay in the region rather than make the perilous journey to Europe," she said.

Earlier this month, Britain agreed to take 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years from camps in nations around the war-torn country.

The Austrian Red Cross told news agency AFP that an estimated 13,000 refugees had arrived on the country on Saturday alone.

After closing its borders on Wednesday, the Hungarian government made an apparent effort to move refugees through the country as quickly as possible, transporting thousands directly to the Austrian border.

Local police said that the were expecting an influx of around 10,000 refugees and migrants on Saturday.

On Sunday, trains at Tovarnik at the Croatia-Serbia were overwhelmed by refugees.

According to the BBC, lack of confirmation of the trains' final destination on the ground meant that refugees were unsure where they were headed.

The Croatian government has said that it has "forced" Hungary to take more refugees, Reuters reported.

During a visit to Beli Manastir near the border on Saturday, Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanovic said "We have in some way compelled them to accept the refugees by sending them [to the Hungarian border] and we'll keep on doing it," The Guardian reported. "There has not been an agreement with Hungary," he added.

Since Hungary closed its border on Tuesday, more than 20,000 refugees have entered Croatia. Milanovic warned it was losing control.

BuzzFeed News's Rossalyn Warren, who is reporting from Croatia, spoke to the refugees in Zagreb who are waiting day and night for a way to move further into Europe. "Why did Hungary close, why?" Noona, a refugee who has fled Iraq, asked. "Where could we go?"

Read the full story here.

They had arrived from Serbia after being turned away at the Hungarian border. As locals boarded trains around them with suitcases in hand, the refugees looked on, unsure of whether a train would ever arrive to take them to Slovenia.

"We walked here from Serbia, and slept here overnight," said a Somalian man, traveling with four friends. He said he and the others had fled from poverty and war at home, and now wanted to leave Croatia and head west.

"We now hear Slovenia doesn't want to let us in," the man, who wished to remain anonymous, told BuzzFeed News. "They have to though, we can't stay here. The EU need to do something because people will keep on coming."

Throughout the day, police awaited the arrival of thousands more refugees in trains into the station. Children ran around in the open spaces, and families sat together in circles on blankets under trees. Some refugees had been transported to a nearby refugee centre, while others — fearful they may miss the train to Slovenia — choose to wait on the station platform.

One mother said she had travelled from Damascus, Syria, to meet some of her family in Germany. "We were on a boat in Greece for six hours. We travelled through Serbia on coach. Now, we're sitting here at this station in Croatia, waiting. We're stuck here if they don't let us go," she said.

Rumors that the Slovenia-Croatian border has closed circulate around the train station. Regardless, refugees pack their bags and prepare for the journey to the border, where some had already arrived after taken taxis with inflated prices.

"We will go by train, or we will go by foot," one refugee said as he filled up his water bottle preparing for the move. "Either way, we will be going."

Croatia's Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said Friday that migrants and refugees who have entered the country in the last few days would be "moved on," and that the country could not become a "migrant hotspot," Reuters reported

Speaking at a news conference, Milanovic said:

"We cannot register and accommodate these people any longer. They will get food, water and medical help, and then they can move on. The European Union must know that Croatia will not become a migrant 'hotspot'. We have hearts, but we also have heads."

He added that he had chaired a session of the country's National Security Council after being faced with thousands of refugees and migrants over the last two days, but it was now time for a different approach. He claimed the country had reached capacity, and authorities were no longer able register people in accordance with EU rules, according to AP. He said:

"What else can we do? You are welcome in Croatia and you can pass through Croatia. But, go on. Not because we don't like you but because this is not your final destination."

The remarks came after Croatia closed seven out of its eight road crossings from Serbia, but Milanovic insisted the border would not shut completely.

He said that migrants and refugees would be redirected to Hungary and Slovenia, and on towards western Europe. He may face problems with this, however, as Hungary and Slovenia have taken steps to strengthen their borders in recent days, AP reported.

Overnight, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country had started building a fence along the country's border with Croatia, Deutsche Welle reported.

Refugees and migrants are trying to pass through the country on their way to the European Union's borderless Schengen area after Hungary used gas, batons, and water cannons to prevent them crossing into its territory, AP reported.

After bus trips from Serbia, thousands of people crossed Croatian fields on foot and were then directed to buses and trains that took them to centers in Zagreb and other cities. Warnings were issued to prevent people walking along the Serbian border, where the ground still contains land mines from the 1991–95 Balkan war, AP said.

Most refugees and migrants are unlikely to stay in Croatia, which is not in the Schengen zone, and are likely to head to Slovenia, then on through to Austria, Germany, and Scandinavia. However, they may have difficulties in passing through Slovenia, as The Guardian reported:

Slovenia's interior minister, Vesna Gyorkos Znidar, has meanwhile said it will not create a "safe corridor" for refugees to pass through on their way to Germany and Scandinavia but will receive asylum requests and accommodate them.

Austria also introduced border controls with Slovenia Wednesday, The Guardian said.

On Thursday, Slovenia said it would also close its border with Hungary for 10 days.

Meanwhile Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto responded to criticism his government have received from the international community — including from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — over authorities' response to Wednesday's border crisis, AP reported, saying:

I find it bizarre and shocking that certain esteemed international figures have stood on the side of people who for hours were throwing stones and pieces of cement at the Hungarian police. And I'd also like to make it very clear, no matter what criticism I receive, that we will never allow such aggressive people to enter Hungary. Not even for transit purposes.

Hungarian police said they had detained 22 people over the clashes. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said Thursday that a Syrian man who was an "organizer" of the unrest is one of those arrested, and is suspected of "carrying out an act of terrorism," AP reported.

On Schmidt's decision to leave the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, the Times said:

Germany's Interior Ministry, responsible for the migration office, said that Mr. Schmidt, 56, had cited "personal reasons" for his decision to leave the position he has held for five years.

In an interview with German newspaper Die Presse, Orban said that "there are already plans" for the fence along the Croatian and Romanian borders with Hungary.

"The real power is not in the fence," he said. "We have new laws with harsh penalties for illegal migrants. And we have sent to the border police and the army. This should make it clear that although migrants can apply for asylum, they must adhere to rules."

Orban said that by trying to choose the country in which they apply for asylum, the refugees were not adhering to international law.

When asked if he was satisfied with his country's fence on the Serbian border, Orban replied: "Satisfied is a shunned expression in Hungarian politics. Who would be so crazy to say that we are satisfied when countless migrants are coming and we have to stop them? Satisfaction is something for the Rolling Stones."

The Hungarian leader said he believed Muslims posed a threat to Europe's traditional Christian identity. "Despite sincere efforts by Western governments, Muslim communities have not integrated," he said. "If a nation wants parallel societies, then she has the right to do so. We Hungarians do not want parallel societies."

He added, "If you allow Muslims in our continent, they will soon be more than us."

Hungarian riot police had been trying to stop refugees and migrants from entering the country from Serbia.

Speaking on state television, Serbian minister Aleksandar Vulin expressed "the harshest possible protest" over the actions of Hungarian police, according to the AP.

"Hungary must show it is ready and capable to accept these people," he said.

Luca Muzi, a freelance journalist with the Associated Press, was detained by Hungarian police and forced to delete his video footage, according to the news organization.

Muzi was filming refugees near Roszke when officer moved in to stop people from walking further while a muzzled police dog attacked a Syrian man, knocking him to the ground, according to the AP. Police forced Muzi to delete the footage, which included two days worth of work. They also refused to let Muzi call his editors or the two other AP journalists working with him, he said.

In a statement, Senior Managing Editor for AP's International News John Daniszewski called the officers' behavior "unacceptable," adding that he hopes Hungarian and European officers "respect the rights of journalists to perform their jobs in covering the migrants and refugees, as well as their interactions with authorities, without interference"

Kovacs disputed the account on Tuesday, denying any allegations that officers forced Muzi to delete footage or that they had earlier let a dog attack a refugee.

BuzzFeed News has reached out to Muzi for comment.

The vessel — an old wooden tourist boat — was carrying more than 200 people when it capsized.

Four children and 11 women were among the dead, and 211 people were rescued, coastguards said.

Survivors were taken back to port in Bodrum, Turkey, where ambulances were waiting to take them to the hospital, Dogan reported.

Here are today's developments from the Hungarian-Serbian border. You can read more here.

* The new laws will allow Hungarian police to arrest and charge anyone illegally crossing the country's border from Serbia — the outer frontier of the EU's borderless Schengen area. * Hungarian authorities said 60 people had been arrested under the new legislation Tuesday afternoon, and that they planned to press charges. * Hungary completed its new razor wire border fence Monday, and sealed off a popular railway crossing overnight. * The new legislation has deemed Serbia a "safe" country, and will allow Hungary to deport refugees there. However, a Serbian minister said they would not accept any people turned back from Hungary, and that the crossing would have to be reopened. * Hungary declared a state of emergency in two southern counties Tuesday, which would allow them to send in the military to help police at the border. * Long queues have formed at the Hungarian-Serbian border. Dozens of refugees were filmed chanting for Hungary to open the border Tuesday afternoon, while others went on hunger strike. * The EU border agency Frontex said Tuesday that 500,000 migrants had crossed into the union's borders in the first eight months of 2015.

Hungarian police stopped hundreds of refugees seeking to enter Hungary along the rail line near Roszke by setting up a razor wire line across the tracks, according to the AP. Police told the refugees to walk to Hungary's nearest approved border crossing about one mile away.

Pope Francis discussed the potential risk of ISIS militants coming into Europe along with other refugees in an interview broadcasted Monday with the Portuguese Catholic broadcaster Radio Renascenca, according to Reuters.

"Nowadays, territorial security conditions are not the same as they were in other periods (of mass migration)," he said. "The truth is that just 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Sicily there is an incredibly cruel terrorist group. So there is a danger of infiltration, this is true."

Thirty-four people — including children and infants — drowned Sunday off the coast of Greece, the Greek coast guard said.

In a statement, Greek Marine Minister Christos Zois described the deaths off the island of Farmakonisi as a shocking tragedy. He called for a coordinated European strategy to handle the refugee and migrant crisis in a way to preserve human life and dignity.

Almost half of those who died when the wooden boat overturned were children, including three infants, five girls, and six boys. The nationalities of the dead were not immediately known.

It appeared to be the largest death toll in Greek waters since the recent mass migration of Syrian refugees began, Reuters reported.

According to the coast guard, 68 other people from the boat were rescued and 30 others from the boat were found to have made it to the island.

Border controls go against the European Union's Schengen system, which mandates free and open travel between member states.

However, Germany says the temporary measures are necessary because of the "great helpfulness" the country has shown in welcoming so many refugees.

"The introduction of temporary border controls will not solve all the problems. We know that," De Maizière said. "But we need just a little more time and a certain degree of order at our borders."

The minister also called on other E.U. member nations to "abide by the rules" that mandate refugees must apply for asylum in the country in which they first arrive.

The new border controls will allow Germany to turn away migrants who are not refugees fleeing war or persecution, according to the New York Times.

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel had warned earlier on Sunday that the country was "nearing the brink" in terms of the support it could offer refugees.

Police in Munich said more than 12,200 refugees and migrants arrived in Munich alone on Saturday, while the country received 36,422 applications for asylum in August.

"It is true that European inaction in the refugee crisis now also brings Germany to the brink of what is possible," he said. "It is not primarily the number of refugees, but the speed in which they come to give the German states and municipalities that is so hard to manage."

He called on Germany and the European Union to put together a $1.5 billion humanitarian assistance package of food, shelter, and education programs. Gabriel also called on the Arab Gulf States and the U.S. to match the package.

Gabriel, who is also Germany's minister for energy and the economy, said a new relationship with Russia is needed in order to reignite political efforts to negotiate an end to the Syrian civil war, which he said was the cause of the refugee exodus.

"The keys to ending the war in Syria are in Moscow and Washington," he said.

Michaela Spritzendorfer-Ehrenhauser, who was delivering aid to the camp and is the wife of Austrian Green Party politician Alexander Spritzendorfer, filmed the scenes. Journalists are not allowed inside the camp by Hungarian authorities, Sky News reported.

Officers — some of whom are seen wearing riot helmets, while others wear surgical masks — were filmed tossing bags of food to refugees, who were separated by temporary wire fences. Hungarian authorities said they were investigating the incident, according to the BBC.

Spritzendorfer-Ehrenhauser told the BBC that the refugees were being treated like "animals":

These people have been on a terrible tour for three months Most of them have been across the sea now and on the boat and through the forest and they've gone through terrible things and we, as Europe, we keep them there in camps like animals. It's really a responsibility of European politicians to open the borders now.

One tweet from a city in Germany caused thousands of Syrian Refugees to march from Hungary

As hundreds of Syrian refugees camped out in the plaza of Budapest's Keleti train station last week, a single tweet from a government agency in the southern German city of Nuremberg changed their lives forever.

"We are at present largely no longer enforcing Dublin-procedures for Syrian citizens," the tweet said, posted on the account of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

Though written in German, the tweet was quickly circulated online and by word of mouth, confirming suspicious that Germany was no longer enforcing asylum rules requiring refugees to be processed at entry to the country.

The Syrian internet quickly exploded with praise for Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, while the hundreds waiting to leave Hungary began the march toward the German border that caught the world's attention.

"The White House's pledge," Oxfam's Vice President for Police and Campaigns, Paul O'Brien, told BuzzFeed News, "is a start but it just scratches the surface. The US can and must do more to help ensure that thousands of Syrians fleeing violence have the safety and security they need."

Read the full report here.

The highway connecting the Danish peninsula Jutland to Germany was closed Wednesday when around 300 migrants, including children, began walking along it, Reuters reported.

It was reopened Thursday, but some limits on traffic remained.

The country's train operator also said it would resume cross-border rail services from Germany Thursday after they were suspended following a standoff between refugees and police, AFP reported.

Scandinavia's busiest ferry crossing to Germany — at Rodby, Denmark — would remain closed to trains following the refugee surge, authorities said, according to AFP.

On Thursday, Danish authorities backtracked on their earlier decision to insist all refugees and migrants registered in the country, and said they would not prevent people transiting through the country on their way to other Nordic nations, AP said.

"We can't detain foreigners who do not want to seek asylum (in Denmark). Therefore, there is no other option than to let them go, and we cannot prevent them from traveling wherever they want," police chief Jens Henrik Hoejbjerg said Thursday.

Unlike Austria and Germany, Denmark has attempted to prevent refugees coming into the country in recent days.

In addition to taking out Arabic language ads in Lebanese newspapers to warn migrants not to seek refuge in Denmark, Danish police returned a group of refugees to Germany on Tuesday.

The country has also begun issuing temporary resident permits and slashed welfare payments to new immigrants, Agence France-Presse reported.

Read the full story from BuzzFeed Oz:

BuzzFeed News' Rossalyn Warren spoke to some of the younger refugees at the border. She found that their tragic circumstances have not stopped them from planning for their futures.

One young Afghan woman named Maria told BuzzFeed News that before she fled her home country, she studied theatre and English, despite her father's disappointment with her career path.

As Maria boarded a train headed for Germany, she told BuzzFeed News that she planned to continue writing once she resettled.

"Writing makes me happy," she said.

Juncker's talk of "compulsory" quotas in the speech he delivered marked a stronger choice of language than that used in the text version published on the EU's website, The Guardian reported.

The text version said:

Today we are proposing a second emergency mechanism to relocate a further 120,000 from Italy, Greece, and Hungary.

This requires a strong effort in European solidarity. Before the summer, we did not receive the backing from Member States I had hoped for. But I see that the mood is turning. And I believe it is high time for this.

I call on Member States to adopt the Commission proposals on the emergency relocation of altogether 160,000 refugees at the Extraordinary Council of Interior Ministers on 14 September.

We now need immediate action. We cannot leave Italy, Greece and Hungary to fare alone. Just as we would not leave any other EU Member State alone. For if it is Syria and Libya people are fleeing from today, it could just as easily be Ukraine tomorrow.

Europe has made make the mistake in the past of distinguishing between Jews, Christians, Muslims. There is no religion, no belief, no philosophy when it comes to refugees.

Updated estimations from the United Nations Human Rights Commission, released on Tuesday, suggest that European countries should expect as many as 500,000 additional refugees to enter in 2016. Read the BuzzFeed News story here.

Several of the approximately 2,000 families who arrived in Macedonia by train came from Afghanistan.

Volunteers were stationed near the train and began distributing provisions such as children's shoes, food, water, and basic toiletries. They told BuzzFeed News that they had organized largely through social media.

Despite the conditions under which the refugees arrived, the families still carried out deliberate acts of kindness.

A record 7,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Macedonia on Monday, while some 30,000 are on the Greek islands, including 20,000 on Lesbos alone, a UNHCR spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Melissa Fleming said European nations must offer guaranteed relocation to Syrian refugees, Reuters reported.

"Discussions in Europe this week are taking on even greater urgency because it obviously cannot be a German solution to a European problem."

"Those can only work if there is a guaranteed relocation system whereby European countries saying yes will take X number. We believe it should be 200,000 — that's the number we believe need relocation in Europe countries," she added.

Fleming welcomed Monday's pledges by France and the U.K. to take in more refugees, but said reception centers were needed in countries such as Greece and Hungary.

Speaking on ZDF public television last night, Gabriel said: "I believe we could surely deal with something in the order of half a million for several years. I have no doubt about that, maybe more," according to AFP.

However, he reiterated Chancellor Angela Merkel's call yesterday for other European Union nations to take their share of asylum-seekers: "We can't just take almost one million people every year and seamlessly integrate them," he said.

However, he insisted that Germany would continue to take a "greatly disproportionate share" as it is an "economically strong country."

The U.K. will take in up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday.

According to the AP, Cameron, speaking to Parliament, said that the country has a "moral responsibility" to step in, adding that children in need and orphans will get priority.

"We are proposing that Britain should resettle up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over the rest of this Parliament," Cameron said according to the BBC.

"In doing so we will continue to show the world that this country is a country of extra compassion, always standing up for our values and helping those in need."

David Cameron has also revealed that he authorized an RAF mission to target and kill a British-born Isis fighter in Syria. Read the Buzzfeed News story here.

Some 2,000 people had gathered near the Greek border village of Idomeni, wanting to cross into Macedonia. However, Macedonian authorities were only allowing small groups to cross every 30 minutes, which caused tensions, AP reported.

By around midday local time, around 1,000 people had crossed the border, with tensions easing after authorities allowed more people to cross at a time.

The extra money would be used to speed up asylum procedures and build extra housing, the BBC reported.

Merkel spoke of "a moving — in some parts breathtaking — weekend," and echoed French President François Hollande's earlier call for other European Union nations to share the burden of the influx of refugees.

"Germany is a country willing to take people in, but refugees can be received in all countries of the European Union in such a way that they can find refuge from civil war and from persecution," she said, AP reported.

Some 20,000 refugees and migrants — many fleeing conflict in places such as Syria, Afghanistan, and Eritrea — are estimated to have arrived in Germany over the weekend, with a further 11,000 expected to arrive on Monday, according to the BBC.

Earlier, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban responded to criticism of his government's response to the crisis by other leaders, and called his country the "black sheep" of the EU family.

"We represent the position of what the Americans call 'first things first,'" he told reporters in Budapest. "As long as we are unable to defend Europe's external borders, it makes no sense to talk about the fate of the immigrants."

Hollande added that French planes would launch reconnaissance flights over Syria on Tuesday, with a view to launching airstrikes against ISIS in the country, the BBC reported.

He said that he held Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the situation in the country, France24 reported.

Speaking at the Angelus prayer from the Vatican on Sunday, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church addressed the refugee crisis and urged parishes to help those who are "victims of war and hunger and setting out on the path to a better life," the BBC reported.

BuzzFeed News' Hussein Kesvani spoke with refugees and volunteers in Vienna. Abdel Hussain, 28, was one of the thousands of refugees who decided to march from Keleti station to the Austrian-Hungarian border on Friday. He said that he had no choice but to travel there, and that "Hungary was not helping any of the refugees."

Read Kesvani's full report here.

Spain's Foreign Minister said his country would heed the call to accept a European Union-wide effort to relocate 120,000 refugees making their way through Europe.

Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Spain was "perfectly ready to accept its corresponding quota in the effort," though he offered no specifics.

He and Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have said Spain would take in more than the 2,739 refugees it had previously agreed to, El Pais reported.

He did not say whether Spain was open to binding quotas proposed by German and France, or if he preferred the voluntary system that is in place.

Garcia-Margallo also said an informal meeting of European foreign ministers being held this weekend could be centered around possible asylum and immigration policies across the European Union, according to El Pais.

Thousands of refugees crossed into Austria from Hungary overnight, the Austrian Interior Minister said Saturday, after Hungarian officials bussed them to the border.

The surprise move came after the refugees, many originally from Syria, had begun walking to the border following days of Hungarian officials preventing them from traveling by train.

More than 3,000 people reached the border Friday night, according to the Austrian Interior Minister. By Saturday afternoon, the number had reached 6,500, the New York Times reported.

Officials have offered people the chance to claim formal asylum in Austria or continue to Germany, the preferred destination for many of the refugees. More than 2,000 have already continued to Germany, according to the Times.

"The focus of all our thoughts are currently on the health and care of these people, who have had to endure more than enough terrible experiences," Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said in a statement.

A second group of 1,000 refugees has also left the main train station in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, for the Austrian border, but a government spokesman told the BBC no further transport assistance would be provided.

Mikl-Leitner said the whole of Europe needs to "wake up" to the refugee crisis and agree to a coordinated response.

Austrian police said that number could more than double over the course of the day, Reuters reported.

Images shared early Saturday showed the first buses filled with refugees arriving in Austria.

The first refugees crossed from Hungary to Austria shortly before dawn, according to journalists at the scene. They made the trip in the rain.

The images showed both adults and children huddled under blankets in a parking lot. The refugees had walked for as long as nine hours before finally being picked up by buses, according to reporters.

About 25 buses arrived at Budapest's Keliti train station around 1 a.m. Saturday to assist in transporting the refugees to the Austrian border. The move came after thousands of refugees left the station on Friday, declaring they would walk to the Austrian border.

Most people in the station appeared weary and tired after 3 weeks of irregular sleep in a hot, stuffy, and squalid environment including on the station floor. While most of the refugees, especially young men, were happy about leaving (some gave peace signs to TV news cameras) other refugees wept as they packed their belongings.

According to some reports, buses are not allowing more refugees on the vehicles than is legally allowed.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann announced on Facebook late Friday that, after a conversation with his German counterpart, both of their countries will allow Syrian migrants to move across their borders.

Faymann said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel reached the decision after speaking with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. It comes as approximately 1,000 Syrians, fleeing their own war-torn nation, have started a 154-mile march from Keleti station in Budapest to Vienna.

Austria had previously warned that it would not allow all the migrants to cross its border, but since then, a swell of public outcry has risen, with thousands of Europeans offering to provide assistance — be it supplies or private transportation — to the fleeing Syrians.

In his announcement, Faymann also said he expected Hungary to meet its European obligations, including those outlined in the Dublin convention, which addresses the handling of refugees and asylum seekers. He also called on the European Commission to create an emergency mechanism to fairly distribute the Syrian migrants among member nations.

More than a thousand Syrians marching from Hungary to Austria Friday were met by Hungarians bearing food and supplies along the route.

Meanwhile, thousands of Austrians had organized a social media campaign for those promising to pick up the marching refugees in private cars and buses. The "Convoy Budapest Vienna - Schienenersatzverkehr for Refugees" had nearly 3,000 confirmed participants as of early Saturday.

The plan included meeting the refugees at the Austria-Hungary border, then driving them the rest of the way to Vienna in whatever cars and vans people could bring. For more on the outpouring of assistance from citizens, click here.

This map — drawn from data from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the European Union's Frontex border patrol, and the International Organization of Migration — shows that each year, the number of people trying to reach Europe has been increasing, causing the total since 2011 to swell before hitting the peak that we're now seeing. In some cases, the number of those attempting to cross the border has doubled from year to year.

Read more here.

A Pakistani migrant died on Friday after falling onto the railway tracks at a train station in Bicske, Reuters reported.

Police said they did not chase the group. The man fell about 800 meters from the station and hit his head on the tracks.

In a statement Friday, Amnesty claims a group of 15–25 people brandishing bats physically attacked refugees and activists Thursday night, shouting "go back to your countries."

Amnesty researcher Kondylia Gogou said: "Last night's violent attack once again throws into sharp relief the danger to refugees and activists who help them. Action must be taken now at all levels to ensure they are protected."

The statement said that police did not stop the group until physical attacks began, and then they used teargas to disperse the crowd.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron discussed allocating an additional £100 million of aid to refugees on Friday, saying:

We must pursue a comprehensive approach to these issues. That means using our aid budget to alleviate poverty and suffering in the countries where these people are coming from. The UK is the only major country in the world that has kept its promise to the poorest to spend 0.7% of our GDP on aid. We're already the second largest bilateral donor of aid to the Syrian conflict, and today I can announce that we will provide a further £100m taking our total contribution to over £1 billion. That is the UK's largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis. No other European country has come close to this level of support.

Sixty million pounds of this additional funding will go to help Syrians still in Syria. The rest will go to neighbouring countries — Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon — where Syrian refugees now account for one quarter of the population. Britain's aid is supporting these camps. If we were not doing that the numbers attempting the dangerous journey to Europe would be far, far higher.

On Friday morning, David Cameron confirmed that the U.K. would take "thousands" more refugees. Despite this, the Council of Europe — the European 47-nation human rights body — expressed "serious concern" over his position on refugees.

The council's commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, said:

While it is true that long-term peace should be brought to Syria and other war-torn countries, it is also true that the UK has a legal and moral obligation to offer shelter to those who flee war and persecution.

The truth is that at the moment the UK is doing much less than other European countries, like Germany or Sweden, which give refuge to thousands of Syrians.

Additional tragedies and shocking pictures could be avoided if political leaders had the courage and determination to uphold human rights standards and common European values.