Migrants arrive in Austria after Hungary provides buses

Thousand of migrants have crossed into Austria,
after Hungary's surprise decision to provide
buses to take them to the border overnight.
For days, the Hungarian government had blocked
them from travelling by train to northern
and
western Europe.
About 3,000 exhausted people, many of whom had
initially fled Syria, crossed the Austrian border and
are being received in a Red Cross Centre.
Austria says they can claim asylum or carry on to
Germany if they wish.
The move comes as European Union countries are
struggling to agree on how to deal with an
unprecedented surge of asylum seekers.
Hungary's government eased restrictions on transit
after many migrants overwhelmed police cordons
and set off towards the border on foot on Friday.
Buses began picking up migrants from Keleti station
in central Budapest, where thousands had been
camped.
Vehicles were also sent to take those who had
decided to walk along a motorway to Austria.
On Saturday Hungarian government spokesman
Zoltan Kovacs told the BBC there would be no more
buses or trains to take the migrants on to Austria.
He said the transport had been arranged as a one-off,
because of fears for the migrants' safety.
When the buses arrived, some of the migrants
argued with officials, fearful they would be arrested
rather than sent to Germany, the BBC's Matthew
Price reported.
But early on Saturday, groups began crossing the
border on foot. Some Austrians displayed welcome
signs.
Austrian Red Cross workers at a makeshift centre
greeted them with blankets and tea.
"I feel [at] home," said Ayaz Morad, one of the first
to arrive. "This is a great land - nice people, nice
government."
Mohammad, a Syrian, said he was happy to leave but
warned other Syrians against travelling to Hungary
because the situation there was "ugly".
'Exhausted, but smiling': Bethany Bell, BBC
News, Austrian-Hungarian border
They crossed into Austria on foot - the Hungarian
buses stopped before reaching the border and they
had to walk the final stretch.
There were children and at least one man in a
wheelchair.
They were exhausted. Some of them were limping,
but many were smiling broadly - relieved to have
finally left Hungary.
"Where are we?" one man shouted. "Austria," I
replied. "Good," he said.
Many of the migrants hope to travel on to Germany,
which has said it expects to take in 800,000 people
this year.
Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann said that after
talks with his German counterpart Angela Merkel, the
two countries would allow in the migrants due to the
"emergency situation" in Hungary.
But he said he expected Hungary to respect any EU
quotas for asylum seekers - something Hungary,
along with the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia,
has rejected.
Hungary has become a major transit nation for
people fleeing the Middle East and Africa, and
seeking to reach north and west Europe.
The Hungarian parliament on Friday approved
tougher border controls and penalties for migrants,
underlining divisions within the EU on how to tackle
the crisis.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said the
surge in arrivals was "Germany's problem", since that
was where most people wanted to go.
But Chancellor Merkel has called for refugees to be
fairly divided among EU members.