EN
17 September 2015 - 06:43 AMT

Hungary detains 29 as riot police use tear gas against migrants

Hungary on Wednesday, September 16 detained 29 people including a "terrorist" as migrants demanding to be let through the country's newly shut EU frontier clashed with riot police firing water cannon and tear gas while refugees searched for new ways to enter the bloc, according to Reuters.

Hungary's decision this week to shut the EU's external border with Serbia was the most forceful attempt yet by a European country to reduce the flood of refugees and economic migrants overwhelming the bloc.

As thousands of migrants scattered across the Balkan peninsula tried to reach the EU, Hungary's prime minister said his country planned to put up a fence along parts of its border with Croatia and on the frontier with Romania to stem the flow.

Helmeted riot police backed by armored vehicles took up positions at the barricaded border crossing with Serbia, where male migrant youths pelted them with stones, demanding entry.

Hungary said it detained a "terrorist" among 29 migrants held during the clashes. At least 20 policemen and two children were injured, a Hungarian security official said.

Serbia's prime minister accused Hungary of "brutal" and "non-European" behavior and urged the EU to respond.

Serbia said it would send extra police to the border and try to distance migrants from the fence, as three Hungarian military Humvees mounted with guns stepped up security on the other side.