ROSZKE, Hungary — Hungary outlined plans on Wednesday to send the army, mounted police and dogs to its southern border to confront record numbers of migrants streaming into the European Union, many fleeing war in Syria. Unrest flared briefly at a crowded reception center in the border region of Roszke, with a police spokesman saying tear gas had been fired. Police said a record 2,533 migrants — most of them from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan — were caught entering Hungary from Serbia on Tuesday. Another 1,300 were detained just by 9.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) on Wednesday. More will have passed unnoticed, walking through gaps in an unfinished barrier to a Europe groping for answers to its worst refugee crisis since World War Two. Hungary, which is part of Europe's Schengen passport-free travel zone, is building a fence along its 175-km border with Serbia in a bid to keep them out. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said Parliament would debate next week whether to deploy the army. “Hungary's government and national security cabinet ... has discussed the question of how the army could be used to help protect Hungary's border and the EU's border,” Kovacs said. Authorities said over 140,000 migrants had entered Hungary from Serbia to far this year. The numbers traveling through the Balkans have soared in recent weeks, with 3,000 crossing into Macedonia daily from Greece then whisked by train and bus north to Serbia and beyond. — Reuters
