“By yesterday evening, order was restored at the Röszke border crossing station, where a group of armed migrants on the Serbian side of the border damaged the station’s fence and attacked police who were guarding the state border”, the Government Spokesperson announced at the scene on Wednesday night.

Zoltán Kovács told reporters: “The events at Röszke, including the fact that they used children as human shields, indicates that we are not talking about a group of peaceful migrants, but about something that poses a significant threat to Hungary.”

“Hungary received no police assistance from the Serbian side of the border for several hours, and although Serbian police did arrive at the scene by late evening, the events nevertheless require some kind of explanation”, he said, adding “this indicates that not everybody feels they need to pull their weight with regard to the solidarity required to preserve border security”.

The Prime Minister’s Chief Advisor on Homeland Security, György Bakondi told reporters that a suitably sized force was directed to the scene to deal with the attack, including personnel from the National Standby Police and the Anti-Terrorist Centre. “Twenty-nine people who entered Hungarian territory and attacked police have been detained, including an identified terrorist”, the Chief Advisor said.

Mr. Bakondi stressed that there will be enough police officers on duty at the border crossing station overnight and the damaged fence would also be repaired by early morning. Twenty police officers were injured during the clash, primarily as a result of being hit by flying stones and with sticks. Five police officers were taken to hospital, two of whom suffered serious injuries.

(Prime Minister's Office)