SEPTEMBER 14 (Eagle News) — Austrian authorities braced themselves for another wave of migrants and refugees coming over the border from Hungary on Sunday (September 13), after a brief lull in arrivals gave them a chance to re-stock reception centers.
Migrants crowded into Vienna’s Westbahnhof train station, one of the city’s main stations, where trains depart for Germany.
Volunteers were on hand to give out refreshments and to help keep the children amused with toys and games.
Police patrolled the platforms and ensured any trains that arrived were boarded in an orderly manner.
Roughly 6,000 migrants have entered Austria since midnight, and the number for all of Sunday could surpass 10,000, which would be the strongest daily flow since Germany and Austria threw open their borders more than a week ago, a police spokesman said.
Austria struggled last week to cope with thousands of people entering its territory, almost all of them on their way to Germany.
The train link to Hungary has been closed since Thursday (September 10) in a bid to stem the flow.
Tens of thousands of people have streamed into Austria, almost all of them continuing to Germany, since the two countries said they would let a wave of migrants, many of them refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war, enter their territory.
Austrian police have said they expect the wave of migrants to remain high leading up to September 15 when Hungary’s border with Serbia is expected to be shut.