Open Borders ‘Soros Organisation’ Protests Migrant Detention in Hungary

protesters
@Oplatz/Twitter
Victoria Friedman

Hungary’s homeland security adviser György Bakondi told MTI that pro-migration “Soros organisation” activists were bussed to a village near the site of the country’s migrant detention centres on the Serbian border, distributing ‘no borders, no prisons’ fliers.

Hír TV news channel reports that on Saturday up to 200 protesters arrived by bus and car and marched through the Hungarian town of Röszke on the border with Serbia to protest asylum seeker detention. They were said to be handing out fliers which read, “We don’t need borders” and “We don’t need prisons”.

The mostly young protesters then marched to the transit zone where the migrants are housed whilst their asylum claims are being processed. At least one person was seen carrying an Antifa flag from the far left, so-called ‘anti-fascist’ movement which is commonly aligned with open borders activism.

The homeland security advisor claims the protestors, from the Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary (MigSzol), were sent to the border town in a coordinated manner by the “Soros organisation”.

“The purpose of the demonstration is to eliminate borders, to stop the defence efforts, and to allow everyone to gain access to the territory of the European Union without restriction,” Mr. Bakondi said.

MigSzol has worked with Soros’s Open Society Foundations who supported the pro-freedom of movement group in the organisation of a march and exhibition of art by “refugees”. MigSzol states on its website that OSF “helped us visit the city [Debrecen, the location of the now-closed migrant camp in Hungary] and also helped us with organising this exhibition”.

The group has been a vocal opponent of Hungary’s border fences with Serbia, having protested their construction during a march in 2015 in the nation’s capital, Budapest.

“Last year in September the border fence was completed, which severely restricts the right to freedom of movement and the right of people making asylum applications. Crossing the border was declared one day to be a crime,” Aliz Pocsuvalszki, a member of MigSzol, told press on Saturday.

The security advisor noted the majority of protestors, 60 to 70 per cent, were foreign nationals including Italians, Germans, Serbians, and Spaniards. According to Bakondi, notable Hungarian figures from the open borders scene were also present, including president of the left wing, pro-European Union Együtt (“together”) party, Péter Juhász.

At the height of the migrant crisis, Együtt launched a campaign to gather support for the European Union’s mandatory migrant quota scheme – a programme opposed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party and by the overwhelming majority of the Hungarian people.

The measures were put in place by the Hungarian government to prevent asylum seekers absconding to wealthier, Western European countries before a decision on their asylum status has been made.

The 324 housing units divided between two ‘container villages’ are located in the transit zone near the Serbian border in the vicinity of the villages of Röszke and Tompa. The migrants will only be free to travel if their asylum claims have been accepted. Prime Minister Orbán has committed to the security measures, including hiring an additional 3,000 new border guards, which has seen the number of illegal crossings into Europe go from thousands to a trickle.

“We are able to halt any wave of migration, no matter its size,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary’s new asylum laws served to protect EU citizens.

Mr. Bakondi confirmed that police will maintain the protection of the state border in every situation, “despite all provocation”.

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