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Thursday, August 27, 2015

This photo sums up the slow-motion tragedy unfolding in Europe

Over the last two months, the number of refugees arriving to Europe has reached staggering new heights. And the EU is struggling to deal with the increasingly difficult crisis. Hungary has been reporting thousands of people breaking through the border with Serbia over the last few days — police say they detained 3,241 on Wednesday alone, according to the Associated Press. Many refugees are trying to reach the richer northern European countries.  A majority of asylum seekers are coming from Syria and have travelled through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia. Clashes between migrants and the police have become more frequent and violent as European authorities have been failing to deal with the added influx of people arriving to the continent. In Hungary, a fence had been hastily erected on the Serbian border in a bid to keep migrants out, who are, according to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a threat to Europe's existence.  Last week, Macedonia became the focal point of the crisis when reports of police using stun grenades and beating refugees with truncheons surfaced. Macedonia then declared a state of emergency and sealed the border.  Other reports have claimed that Serbian and Macedonian authorities, knowing that the migrants do not want to stay in their countries, have been facilitating the transit of the refugees who have managed to enter their borders.  Tensions in Europe have been flaring, especially in Germany where neo-Nazi protesters have gathered outside homes housing asylum seekers and many shelters have been set on fire. On Thursday up to 50 refugees were found dead in a truck in Austria. According to Frontex, the European border agency, over the January-July 2015 period an estimated 330.000 asylum seekers have entered Europe.  SEE ALSO: French mayor says he was threatened with a gun by 'English mafia' smuggling migrants into Britain Join the conversation about this story »


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