Hungary repels refugees at Serbian border with tear gas, water cannons

Hungarian authorities said they arrested 519 people who tried to cross the border since Tuesday, when tough laws went into effect to deter unauthorized entry from Serbia. Authorities launched 46 criminal prosecutions, and the first refugee, an Iraqi citizen, was found guilty Wednesday of illegally crossing the border. He was expelled from Hungary and barred from returning for one year.

Hungarian soldiers, police and engineers have started to mark out a fence on the country's southern border with fellow EU member Romania, preparing to extend the metal barrier already built on the frontier with Serbia.

Romania's foreign ministry summoned Hungary's ambassador to Romania on Wednesday to protest the planned fence on its border.

In the last few months, Hungary has become a main entry point into the EU for people fleeing conflict, many of them from the Middle East, with more than 200,000 entering the country so far this year. Almost all have entered from the southern border with Serbia and passed through Hungary on their way to Germany and other wealthy European nations.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Wednesday denied that closed borders and new laws signal callousness toward refugees, repeating the government's claim that most of those entering Hungary are actually economic migrants.

"Based on our history, we are always in solidarity with the refugees," he told The Associated Press. "What we're saying is that we cannot accept economic migrants because we cannot bear the burden of that."

Early Wednesday, police on horseback surrounded a group of 14 Afghans, including five young girls and an elderly woman, in a field close to the fence. As they watched over the group, the officers' radio crackled with news of other people being detained.

Small groups of young men walked along roads leading from the border. One asked a passing reporter, "Is this the way to Budapest?"

Still, most of the people who hoped to cross into Hungary remained trapped on the Serbian side of the border in Horgos. Many were confused about whether to keep waiting or to try to proceed through Croatia — a longer route.

"I don't know what to do — stay here or try some other way to cross the border," said Ahmed Sami from Syria. "We walked and traveled for hundreds, thousands of kilometers, only to be stopped meters from the European Union. My wife and children cannot stand on their feet anymore. This is tragic."

Some women pushed to the front of the crowd at the border fence and held small babies and children above their heads as they faced police, in an obvious appeal for mercy.

Hungary — along with Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — has vehemently opposed the introduction of compulsory quotas for refugees to be resettled in EU member countries. 

But on Wednesday, Czech Human Rights Minister Jiri Dienstbier signaled what could be a change in policy when he announced he hoped his country would make arrangements to take in as many as 15,000 refugees on a voluntary basis, The Associated Press reported. So far, the country has agreed to take in only 2,000 people.

Most refugees hope to reach Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has said it expected some 800,000 refugees to arrive this year. Germany’s vice chancellor has said the number could reach 1 million.

Al Jazeera and wire services