Frustrated migrants break through police lines in Hungary

Arwa Damon
By Arwa Damon, CNN
Updated 3:31 AM EDT, Wed September 9, 2015
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Story highlights

NEW: Hungarian police stop and encircle about half the fleeing refugees and migrants

Hundreds of migrants frustrated at being forced to wait in a holding area stage a breakout

They run across corn and sunflower fields, hoping to evade police

(CNN) —  

Dramatic scenes unfolded Tuesday as hundreds of frustrated migrants broke through police lines at a holding camp near the town of Roszke in Hungary.
The people – mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan – had complained about uncomfortable conditions in the camp and not knowing what would happen to them next.

As they burst through the police lines, some parents carried children on their shoulders, struggling to make their way across the rough ground near Roszke.

They walked and hiked about 4 miles, many dropping their possessions on the ground. Two kids from one family lost the shoes they were wearing. They walked over a train track and rocks barefoot for miles.

Hungarian police raced after the fleeing migrants, some of whom may be refugees, and at some point the group was split in half.

Later Tuesday, police stopped and encircled half the fleeing migrants and brought them food and water. Some of the captured migrants reportedly spoke to the rest of the group, telling them that they had no choice but to trust the Hungarian authorities.

The migrants said they had been told buses would take them to another area where they would not be fingerprinted. They expected to later get on trains they hoped would take them to Austria and finally to Germany.

Earlier in the day, scuffles broke out as migrants forced to wait in the holding area expressed their frustration. Many cannot understand why, having reached the European Union, they are not receiving a warmer welcome.

West to blame for Europe’s migrant crisis?

A woman cries after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea about 15 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, on July 25, 2017. More than 6,600 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in January 2018, according to the UN migration agency, and more than 240 people died on the Mediterranean Sea during that month.
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PHOTO: Santi Palacios/AP
A woman cries after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea about 15 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, on July 25, 2017. More than 6,600 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in January 2018, according to the UN migration agency, and more than 240 people died on the Mediterranean Sea during that month.
Refugees and migrants get off a fishing boat at the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey in October 2015.
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PHOTO: Antonio Masiello/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press
Refugees and migrants get off a fishing boat at the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey in October 2015.
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Migrants step over dead bodies while being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Libya in October 2016. Agence France-Presse photographer Aris Messinis was on a Spanish rescue boat that encountered several crowded migrant boats. Messinis said the rescuers counted 29 dead bodies -- 10 men and 19 women, all between 20 and 30 years old. "I've (seen) in my career a lot of death," he said. "I cover war zones, conflict and everything. I see a lot of death and suffering, but this is something different. Completely different."
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PHOTO: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images
Migrants step over dead bodies while being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Libya in October 2016. Agence France-Presse photographer Aris Messinis was on a Spanish rescue boat that encountered several crowded migrant boats. Messinis said the rescuers counted 29 dead bodies -- 10 men and 19 women, all between 20 and 30 years old. "I've (seen) in my career a lot of death," he said. "I cover war zones, conflict and everything. I see a lot of death and suffering, but this is something different. Completely different."
Authorities stand near the body of 2-year-old Alan Kurdi on the shore of Bodrum, Turkey, in September 2015. Alan, his brother and their mother drowned while fleeing Syria. This photo was shared around the world, often with a Turkish hashtag that means "Flotsam of Humanity."
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PHOTO: DOGAN NEWS AGENCY/EPA/LANDOV
Authorities stand near the body of 2-year-old Alan Kurdi on the shore of Bodrum, Turkey, in September 2015. Alan, his brother and their mother drowned while fleeing Syria. This photo was shared around the world, often with a Turkish hashtag that means "Flotsam of Humanity."
Migrants board a train at Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, after the station was reopened in September 2015.
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PHOTO: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Migrants board a train at Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, after the station was reopened in September 2015.
Children cry as migrants in Greece try to break through a police cordon to cross into Macedonia in August 2015. Thousands of migrants -- most of them fleeing Syria's bitter conflict -- were stranded in a no-man's land on the border.
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PHOTO: GEORGI LICOVSKI/EPA/LANDOV
Children cry as migrants in Greece try to break through a police cordon to cross into Macedonia in August 2015. Thousands of migrants -- most of them fleeing Syria's bitter conflict -- were stranded in a no-man's land on the border.
The Kusadasi Ilgun, a sunken 20-foot boat, lies in waters off the Greek island of Samos in November 2016.
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PHOTO: Alexis Malagaris/Samos Divers Association via AP
The Kusadasi Ilgun, a sunken 20-foot boat, lies in waters off the Greek island of Samos in November 2016.
Migrants bathe outside near a makeshift shelter in an abandoned warehouse in Subotica, Serbia, in January 2017.
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PHOTO: Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images
Migrants bathe outside near a makeshift shelter in an abandoned warehouse in Subotica, Serbia, in January 2017.
A police officer in Calais, France, tries to prevent migrants from heading for the Channel Tunnel to England in June 2015.
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PHOTO: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images
A police officer in Calais, France, tries to prevent migrants from heading for the Channel Tunnel to England in June 2015.
A migrant walks past a burning shack in the southern part of the "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais, France, in March 2016. Part of the camp was being demolished -- and the inhabitants relocated -- in response to unsanitary conditions at the site.
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PHOTO: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images
A migrant walks past a burning shack in the southern part of the "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais, France, in March 2016. Part of the camp was being demolished -- and the inhabitants relocated -- in response to unsanitary conditions at the site.
Migrants stumble as they cross a river north of Idomeni, Greece, attempting to reach Macedonia on a route that would bypass the border-control fence in March 2016.
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PHOTO: Vadim Ghirda/AP
Migrants stumble as they cross a river north of Idomeni, Greece, attempting to reach Macedonia on a route that would bypass the border-control fence in March 2016.
In September 2015, an excavator dumps life vests that were previously used by migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Photos: Europe's migration crisis in 25 photos
PHOTO: Petros Giannakouris/AP
In September 2015, an excavator dumps life vests that were previously used by migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos.
The Turkish coast guard helps refugees near Aydin, Turkey, after their boat toppled en route to Greece in January 2016.
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PHOTO: Emin Menguarslan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The Turkish coast guard helps refugees near Aydin, Turkey, after their boat toppled en route to Greece in January 2016.
A woman sits with children around a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni in March 2016.
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PHOTO: Vadim Ghirda/AP
A woman sits with children around a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni in March 2016.
A column of migrants moves along a path between farm fields in Rigonce, Slovenia, in October 2015.
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PHOTO: Darko Bandic/AP
A column of migrants moves along a path between farm fields in Rigonce, Slovenia, in October 2015.
A ship crowded with migrants flips onto its side in May 2016 as an Italian navy ship approaches off the coach of Libya. Passengers had rushed to the port side, a shift in weight that proved too much. Five people died and more than 500 were rescued.
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PHOTO: Italian navy via AP Photo
A ship crowded with migrants flips onto its side in May 2016 as an Italian navy ship approaches off the coach of Libya. Passengers had rushed to the port side, a shift in weight that proved too much. Five people died and more than 500 were rescued.
Refugees break through a barbed-wire fence on the Greece-Macedonia border in February 2016, as tensions boiled over regarding new travel restrictions into Europe.
Photos: Europe's migration crisis in 25 photos
PHOTO: Pierre Crom/Getty Images
Refugees break through a barbed-wire fence on the Greece-Macedonia border in February 2016, as tensions boiled over regarding new travel restrictions into Europe.
Policemen try to disperse hundreds of migrants by spraying them with fire extinguishers during a registration procedure in Kos, Greece, in August 2015.
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PHOTO: Yorgos Karahalis/AP
Policemen try to disperse hundreds of migrants by spraying them with fire extinguishers during a registration procedure in Kos, Greece, in August 2015.
A member of the humanitarian organization Sea-Watch holds a migrant baby who drowned following the capsizing of a boat off Libya in May 2016.
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PHOTO: Christian Buttner/EIKON NORD GMBH GERMANY via AP
A member of the humanitarian organization Sea-Watch holds a migrant baby who drowned following the capsizing of a boat off Libya in May 2016.
A migrant in Gevgelija, Macedonia, tries to sneak onto a train bound for Serbia in August 2015.
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PHOTO: Boris Grdanoski/AP
A migrant in Gevgelija, Macedonia, tries to sneak onto a train bound for Serbia in August 2015.
Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the Mediterranean from a crowded wooden boat during a rescue operation about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, in August 2016.
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PHOTO: Emilio Morenatti/AP
Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the Mediterranean from a crowded wooden boat during a rescue operation about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, in August 2016.
Refugees rescued off the Libyan coast get their first sight of Sardinia as they sail in the Mediterranean Sea toward Cagliari, Italy, in September 2015.
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PHOTO: Gregorio Borgia/AP
Refugees rescued off the Libyan coast get their first sight of Sardinia as they sail in the Mediterranean Sea toward Cagliari, Italy, in September 2015.
Local residents and rescue workers help migrants from the sea after a boat carrying them sank off the island of Rhodes, Greece, in April 2015.
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PHOTO: ARGIRIS MANTIKOS/AFP/Getty Images
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Investigators in Burgenland, Austria, inspect an abandoned truck that contained the bodies of refugees who died of suffocation in August 2015. The 71 victims -- most likely fleeing war-ravaged Syria -- were 60 men, eight women and three children.
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PHOTO: Rex Features via AP
Investigators in Burgenland, Austria, inspect an abandoned truck that contained the bodies of refugees who died of suffocation in August 2015. The 71 victims -- most likely fleeing war-ravaged Syria -- were 60 men, eight women and three children.
Syrian refugees sleep on the floor of a train car taking them from Macedonia to the Serbian border in August 2015. How to help the ongoing migrant crisis
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Syrian refugees sleep on the floor of a train car taking them from Macedonia to the Serbian border in August 2015. How to help the ongoing migrant crisis

Some of the migrants also tussled with police on Monday. Police have been blocking a road from the holding site to a transit camp where they can register as refugees and continue their journeys.

Hungary has been at the forefront of Europe’s migrant crisis in recent days.

How you can help in the crisis

Many of the refugees and migrants arriving there from Serbia – having been on the road for weeks in some cases – are afraid they will get stuck in Hungary and be unable to carry on their journey to their preferred destinations in Western Europe.

Some who have made it farther north have also complained of poor conditions in the holding areas and transit camps in Hungary.

Hungary’s government has said it is just trying to enforce EU rules on the movement of migrants without proper documentation.

Are countries obligated to take in refugees?

CNN’s Brent Swails contributed to this report.