Outrage at Hungary border clashes

Hungarian authorities provoked outrage on Wednesday following their treatment of asylum seekers trying to cross the now-blocked border between Hungary and Serbia on Wednesday. After a group of frustrated men, mostly Iraqi and Syrian war refugees, hurled rocks and plastic water bottles at the helmet-clad riot police, officers unleashed tear gas and water cannons onto the crowd - including the women and children gathered nearby.

At least two people were seriously injured and hundreds of others needed medical attention.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his "shock" at the incident, saying the behavior of the Hungarian police was unacceptable. He reminded the global community that "people facing barrel bombs and brutality in their country will continue to seek life in another."

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic decried the "brutal" behavior on the part of the Hungarians, and urged the EU to step in and prevent the problem from spiraling out of control.

"I call on the European Union to react, for its members to behave in line with European values," Vucic told Serbian state media during a visit to the United States. "If the EU does not react, we will find a way to protect our borders and European values as well."

Orban backs police actions

Budapest, however, defended the officer's actions. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's homeland security adviser told reporters that "we will employ all legal means to protect Hungary's border's security."

"We will not permit violent, armed, aggressive attackers to enter," he added, backing up his statement with a claim that one of the more than 500 refugees who have been arrested under Hungary's strict new border-crossing laws was "an identified terrorist."

Migrants seek new route through Croatia

New statutes aimed at clamping down at illegal entry into Hungary, used by many asylum seekers as a gateway to the Europe Union, came into force at midnight on Tuesday, forcing refugees to make their way to northern EU countries through Croatia.

The Croatian government, for its part, has pledged to allow asylum seekers free passage through its borders on their way to Germany and Scandinavia. Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic called the Hungarian policy towards migrants "harmful and dangerous" and added that it was sending a "horrible message" about European attitudes.

David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, said the clash revealed "a dark side of the European character," and that "anyone with an ounce of morality feels appalled by what's happening in parts of Europe."

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called Hungary's tactics to keep refugees on the Serbian side of the border "misguided and short-sighted" and accused the landlocked EU nation of bullying the downtrodden.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was "extremely concerned" by the violence on the Hungarian frontier, saying that physical confrontation could easily be avoided if the authorities wished it.

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es/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters)