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Thousands of migrants reach Austria for asylum

By Amy R. Connolly
Syrian refugees depart from a transit zone in the Keleti train station to board a bus to the Hungarian border with Austria on September 5, 2015. Hundreds of refugees and migrants mainly from Syria and Afghanistan have been stranded in Budapest for days while waiting for the Hungarian government to allow them to continue their journey towards Germany and Western Europe. Photo by Achilleas Savallis/UPI
1 of 13 | Syrian refugees depart from a transit zone in the Keleti train station to board a bus to the Hungarian border with Austria on September 5, 2015. Hundreds of refugees and migrants mainly from Syria and Afghanistan have been stranded in Budapest for days while waiting for the Hungarian government to allow them to continue their journey towards Germany and Western Europe. Photo by Achilleas Savallis/UPI | License Photo

VIENNA, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Thousands of migrants reached Austria by bus on Saturday morning, where many may apply for asylum or move forward to Germany.

Some 5,000 migrants, many fleeing Syria, were bused to the Austrian border by the Hungarian government after it gave up on trying to stop them, instead deciding to help them safely traverse the land. The Hungarian government provided 90 buses to take them from Budapest's main railroad station as an "extraordinary one-time measure." Many will stay in Austria, while about 1,000 others set off on foot from Budapest to reach Germany.

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Hungarian authorities said they will no longer provide buses to help the migrants. Instead, they plan to stick to their understanding of European regulations to stop and register them.

"The fundamental problem is still the pull-factor that is being transmitted by Germany and Austria," Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told BBC Television on Saturday. "We are not going to be able to stop the flood of illegal migrants."

Leaders across Europe have been struggling to agree on the best way to handled the region's biggest refugee crisis since World War II. The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011, has sent some four million people seeking asylum in other countries.

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