A Hungarian police officer secures the Hungary-Serbia border crossing of Roszke seen from Horgos, Serbia, January 28, 2020. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
January 28, 2020
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – A Hungarian security officer fired three warning shots early on Tuesday after about 60 migrants tried to force their way through a checkpoint on the EU member state’s southern border with Serbia, police said.
No one was wounded in the incident, spokeswoman Szilvia Szabo said.
Police said the group tried to enter the European Union at the Roszke crossing at about 0430 GMT, prompting the security officer on site to open fire.
The crossing was the scene of a large-scale riot at the peak of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, when police clashed with hundreds trying to break through the frontier into the EU.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban subsequently ordered a steel fence erected along Hungary’s frontier, curbing arrivals. But migrant traffic started increasing again late last year and there are currently several hundred attempted illegal crossings per week.
Most of Tuesday’s group failed to cross the border, and the four who managed to enter Hungary were intercepted, police said, adding that the crossing had been closed.
A larger highway checkpoint for international passenger and freight traffic at Roszke remained open, police said.
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; editing by John Stonestreet)
