Austria and Germany finally threw open their borders to thousands of exhausted migrants on Saturday, 5th September, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers reaching Europe’s frontiers. After days of confrontation and chaos, Hungary’s government deployed over 100 buses overnight to take thousands of migrants to the Austrian border.
Germany said it expected to receive up to 10,000 on Saturday. Austrian police said 4,000 had crossed by the morning, but that many more were expected during the day as Europe’s asylum system buckled under the pressure of the continent’s worst refugee crisis since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990’s. Around 6,500 refugees have reached Austria and 2,200 of them are already on their way to Germany.
Migrants arrive at the Austrian-Hungarian border station of Hegyeshalom, Hungary.
Migrants arrive at the Austrian-Hungarian border station of Hegyeshalom, Hungary.
Migrants gesture on a bus bound for Austria and Germany, next to the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary.
Migrants hold pictures of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as they set off on foot for the border with Austria from Budapest, Hungary.
A woman holds a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as migrants set off on foot for the border with Austria from Budapest, Hungary.
A migrant walks past bottled water as he waits for buses bound for Austria and Germany, along the M1 highway near Budapest, Hungary.
Migrants board a bus bound for Austria and Germany, along the M1 highway near Budapest, Hungary.
Refugees and migrants arrive on-board the Eleftherios Venizelos passenger ship at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece.
Hundreds of migrants cross the river Danube in Budapest, Friday Sept, 4, 2015, after they decided to walk toward Austria. Thousands have been camped out at Budapest’s Keleti train station for days, before they decided to try and reach their destination on foot.
Migrants use plastic sheets to shelter from rain as they wait for buses bound for Austria and Germany, along the M1 highway near Budapest, Hungary.
Migrants wait outside the foreign office in Brussels, Belgium
People stand behind a fence net to a train that was stopped Thursday in Bicske, Hungary.
Italy and Malta players pause to pay their respects for the victims of Europe’s migrant crisis before their Euro 2016 qualification match at the Franchi stadium in Florence, Italy September 3, 2015.
A child looks out at the police from inside the train at the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary.
Migrants storm into a train at the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, September 3, 2015 as Hungarian police withdrew from the gates after two days of blocking their entry.
Migrants queue at a registration office at the overcrowded Friedland refugee camp, housing about 3,000 refugees, in Friedland, Germany.
Migrants storm into a train at the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, September 3, 2015 as Hungarian police withdrew from the gates after two days of blocking their entry.
Protesting migrants from Afghanistan and Syria hold up a child wrapped in blankets, as a reminder of the horrors they have fled, while demonstrating outside the shuttered Keleti Railway Terminus in Budapest, Hungary.
Migrants wait outside the Eastern railway station in Budapest, Hungary.
Migrants taking shelter in the tents at Hungary.
A group of migrants try to make their way through the crowd to the Keleti (Eastern) Railway Terminus in Budapest, Hungary.
A dinghy overcrowded with Afghan immigrants approaches the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.
Migrants wait for the visit of German President Joachim Gauck in an asylum seekers accommodation facility in Berlin, Germany.