
Austria was introducing temporary controls on the Hungarian border at midnight as the country struggles to cope with a backlog of thousands of refugees trying to reach Germany.

It said it could put similar curbs on its boundaries with Slovenia, Italy and Slovakia if that fails to stem the flow of migrants.

Austrian Police said the two main train stations in Vienna are overflowing with refugees as thousands rushed through Hungary ahead of a deadline that saw it close its border with Serbia, leaving thousands more stranded.

Earlier today, furious Serbian officials have hit out at Hungary and the rest of Europe after insisting their country is 'not a concentration camp' for migrants.

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Migrants slept on a highway at the border between Hungary and Serbia after the main land route between the countries was closed

A migrant plays with his young child, throwing the youngster in the air (pictured), despite enduring harsh conditions at teh border

Thank you Serbia: Migrants wave banners and shout their thanks as they rattle the barbed wire fence between Hungary and Serbia

Migrants have daubed their clothes with slogans calling for freedom as they try to make their way across Europe

Hungary came under fire from its neighbour after imposing a border crackdown on Monday - at the end of a day in which 9,000 refugees crossed over from Serbia. Refugees are pictured, right, on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary on Tuesday as police stand guard

Migrants walk next to the razor wire fence as police stand guard on the Hungarian side. Serbian officials have hit out at Hungary and the rest of Europe after insisting their country is 'not a concentration camp' for refugees

Hundreds of refugees spent the night in the open on Serbia's northern border as Hungary launched a strict border regime that could see asylum seekers rejected and expelled from the country. A man is pictured holding a young child at the border this morning

Despair: A man breaks down in tears as he holds a child on the Serbian side of the country's border with Hungary. Hundreds spent the night in the open overnight

A migrant sits on the ground arrested by police officers and soldiers after he tried to cross the border line between Serbia and Hungary in Roszke, southern Hungary

Hungary came under fire from its neighbour after imposing a tough border crackdown on Monday night - at the end of a day in which 9,000 refugees crossed over from Serbia.

The Hungarian government has declared a crisis in two of its southern counties and is erecting a barbed-wire fence along its southern border as part of measures to stem the flow of migrants.

But the Serbian minister for labour and social policy, Aleksandar Vulin, has this afternoon insisted his country will not take in migrants if they are sent back.

'No one will be sent back. Serbia is not a concentration camp,' he said, adding: 'You cannot send anyone to Serbia without their permission, without their free will. They are not criminals.

'They have not done anything wrong by any criminal law. You cannot send them to Serbia without their permission.'

Hungary announced later in the day it would start a fence on its border with fellow EU-member Romania - a move that Romania said violated the very spirit of EU unity.

Hundreds of refugees spent the night in the open on Serbia's northern border while Hungarian police and soldiers have already arrested 174 Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan migrants for breaching the fence, saying they would face criminal prosecution.

The International Organization for Migration said today that the the crackdown 'looks like' a contravention of Hungary's obligations under U.N. and EU rules.

Erno Simon, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said elements of the new border regime were 'really alarming'.

The Serbian government has already made urgent calls for the restrictions to be lifted with one official insisting 'the Hungarians never told us that they will close the border'.

Hungary is also planning another anti-migrant fence along along part of its border with Romania, a minister said today.

'The measure is necessary as people-smugglers may change their routes because of the existing fence on the Hungary-Serbia border, hence a part of the immigration pressure may get directed towards Romania,' said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Romania is in the EU but not in Schengen, while Serbia is in neither.

'We don't want to turn the country into a fortress but we want to protect our borders,' Kovacs said.

It comes as Germany threatened to cut EU funds to member states that refuse migrant quotas after several eastern European countries refused distribution proposals.

Hungary's decision to declare a state of emergency would allow the government to mobilise the army - pending parliamentary approval next week - to help police with border control, and force courts to prioritise cases involving migrants caught entering Hungary illegally.

Final destination unknown: Migrants enter a van after being detained for crossing the border from Serbia near Asttohatolom, Hungary

Hungarian police say two crossings on the border with Serbia have been closed to all traffic as stricter rules about the entry of migrants are applied. Officers are pictured detaining migrants after they crossed the border to Hungary

Map: Germany, Slovakia and Austria have started to impose border controls in a bid to control the flow of migrants through Europe

A migrant holds her baby as they wait to enter Hungary after the Hungarian police sealed the border with Serbia, near the village of Horgos

Migrants hold a sign reading 'Europe, your humanity is lost' at the closed Roszke-Horgos border crossing between Hungary and Serbia

Police can enter and search homes where migrants who entered Hungary illegally are believed to be hiding. The state of emergency could be declared for up to six months and extended if conditions continue to justify it.

Last night, aid workers brought tents, food and water for about 500 migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, denied entry to Hungary overnight amid Europe's worst refugee crisis in two decades.

But today, human rights campaigners Amnesty International called Hungary's response to the migrant crisis 'shocking and irresponsible'.

In a press release, the organisation said: 'By effectively closing its border to refugees and meeting those fleeing conflict and persecution with razor wire, troops and draconian new laws, Hungary is showing the ugly face of Europe's shambolic response to the growing refugee crisis.'

Meanwhile, there have been reports that volunteers working close to the border fence have been refused permission to hand out water to refugees.

Authorities said 48 asylum claims had been submitted, of which 16 had been ruled upon and all rejected within a matter of hours, a pace critics said raised doubt over the fairness of the process.

They did not give a breakdown by nationality but an official with the United Nations refugee agency said he saw several Syrians rejected. One human rights worker said several Syrian and Afghan families were directed to a reception centre inside Hungary while their claims were processed.

Large numbers of confused migrants roamed the fields next to the barbed-wire fence that Hungary has recently built separating the two countries. Hungarian officials began distributing food to migrants but refused to let them in, sparking frustration.

'We don't want food. We want to get into the European Union,' said Abbas Mandegar, from Afghanistan. 'We are tired.'

Those who managed to make it into Hungary the day before were boarding buses. One Hungarian police officer said they were being sent directly to Austria.

Witnesses saw dozens pass through gaps in an unfinished fence that Hungary is building the length of the EU's external border with Serbia, squirreling under coils of razor wire.

Many refugees were stopped before they could make it across to Hungary and were directed to the official border crossing by police and soldiers

Detained: Police and soldiers arrested nine Syrians and seven Afghan migrants after Hungary imposed tough new border rules overnight

Iraqi migrants are detained by hungarian police and Dutch frontier guards and loaded into a prison van on a road near the village of Roszke

A young girl, one of a number of Iraqi migrants detained on the border, is pictured holding a tiny baby as she talks to police officers

The Serbian government has made urgent calls for the restrictions to be lifted with one official insisting 'the Hungarians never told us that they will close the border'

Some made it, while others were stopped before they could try and were directed to the official border crossing by police and soldiers. Some, tired and cold, sat down in fields short of the 3.5-metre high metal fence.

A major flashpoint in Europe's worst refugee crisis since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, Hungary has vowed to clamp down on the flow through the Balkan peninsula to the richer countries of northern and western Europe.

Serbia is holding talks with the Hungarian government about the buildup of migrants on their frontier, a Serbian government minister said today, adding Budapest would 'have to open the border.'

Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia's minister in charge of tackling the migrant crisis, did not elaborate. 'We are talking to the Hungarians,' he told Reuters at the border, where crowds of migrants were growing after Hungary sealed its southern frontier. 'They will have to open the border,' he said.

This morning, Germany said it approves of using EU aid funds to pressure member states into accepting binding quotas to relocate 120,000 refugees, after several eastern countries refused the migrant distribution proposal.

'The negotiations situation is such that nothing happens to countries which refuse. We need to talk about ways of exerting pressure. These are often countries that receive a lot of structural funds from the European Union,' German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ZDF.

Police officers distribute food to migrants at the border to Hungary in Horgos, Serbia. Hungary has declared a state of emergency in two of its southern counties bordering Serbia because of the migration crisis, giving special powers to police and other authorities

The gateways to Hungary slammed shut overnight and hundreds of migrants were forced to sleep in the open as they waited

Hungary has vowed to clamp down on the flow through the Balkan peninsula to the richer countries of northern and western Europe

Road block: A refugee sits and waits next to a metal fence erected on the border between Serbia and Hungary near the village of Horgos

Desperate: A child watches on as Hungarian soldiers stop his migrant family at the border exit between Serbia and Hungary

The Hungarian government today declared a crisis in two of its southern counties while a border zone in the area is being extended to 180ft from 30ft and transit zones could be set up to handle migrants

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker 'has suggested that we should look at whether these countries should get less structural funds, which I agree with,' he added.

As ministers of the EU's 28 member states argued over how to share out responsibility for some of the hundreds of thousands who have sought asylum in Europe this year, Hungary under Viktor Orban moved on Monday to close down their main land route into the bloc along railway tracks from Serbia.

'We will start a new era,' government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said shortly after midnight on the border. 'We will stop the inflow of illegal migrants over our green borders.'

Police have recorded over 190,000 entering Hungary this year, including a record for one day of more than 9,000 on Monday.

Their window of opportunity is rapidly shrinking as Hungary puts the finishing touches to the fence the length of its 108 mile southern border.

On Monday, a cargo wagon, one end covered in razor wire, was shunted into position to close the main informal crossing point for migrants. Helmeted police and soldiers stood guard and a helicopter circled overhead.

Hungary has declared a state of emergency as it struggles to deal with an influx of migrants. Hundreds are pictured here walking towards the Austrian border having crossed into Hungary from Serbia

A sick Syrian girl is comforted by her father before being taken by Hungarian police by bus to board a train to the Austrian border

On the move: Migrants queue to board buses bound for Vienna from Hegyshalom holding centre on the Austrian border

Those who managed to make it into Hungary the day before were boarding buses. One Hungarian police officer said they were being sent directly to Austria

'We're on the street now,' said Mouz, a 22-year-old Syrian, who slept on the border. Asked if he might consider another route, possibly through Serbia's western neighbour Croatia, he replied: 'I don't know. I'm from Syria. I cannot go back.'

The government says refugees will still be able to claim asylum at two official border crossings into Hungary, but if they have entered from Serbia - and not already sought asylum there - they face automatic expulsion within eight days after Budapest in July declared its impoverished southern neighbour 'safe' for refugees.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, says it disputes the designation of Serbia, not an EU member, as a so-called 'safe third country', which would imply refugees have a fair chance of being granted asylum and will receive all the necessary protections and support.

Rights groups say Serbia meets none of the criteria and is still finding homes for thousands of its own refugees from the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the last time Europe confronted displacement of people on such a scale.

Orban, one of Europe's most vociferous opponents of mass immigration, said he expected a high rate of deportations.

'In such a case, if someone is a refugee, we will ask them whether they have submitted an asylum request in Serbia. If they had not done so, given that Serbia is a safe country, they will be rejected,' he was quoted as telling private broadcaster TV2.

An official of Orban's Fidesz party said authorities would rule on such asylum requests within eight days.

A railway wagon blocks the opening that thousands of migrants used to cross the Serbian-Hungarian border near the village of Roszke

Large numbers of confused migrants roamed the fields next to the barbed-wire fence that Hungary has recently built separating the two countries

Hungary is erecting a 100-mile fence along its southern border. Migrants are pictured waiting on the Serbian side (right)

With the gates slammed shut, a migrant gives a child water as they wait on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary in Asotthalom

Exhausted: Syrian refugees wait on a bus in Hungary before being taken by police to board a train to the Austrian border

Orban has vowed zero tolerance on the EU's external border, framing the crisis as a battle for Europe's prosperity, identity and 'Christian values'.

Austria today warned that the country might soon be short of emergency shelters for people streaming into the country from Hungary.

The Interior Ministry says that it had 20,000 places across the country as of Monday night, compared to the approximately 19,700 that needed shelter.

The influx into Europe, by boat from North Africa across the Mediterranean or across Turkey and up the Balkan peninsula, has triggered discord and recrimination in the 28-nation EU, feeding anti-immigration sentiment.

On Monday, two decades of frontier-free travel across Europe unravelled as Austria and Slovakia followed Germany in re-establishing border controls to cope with the influx. Austria said it would dispatch armed forces to guard its eastern frontier with Hungary.

Migrants erected tents and slept on the roads and pavements near the border after Hungary imposed strict new border controls last night

Despite the arrests, witnesses saw dozens pass through gaps in an unfinished fence that Hungary is building the length of the EU's external border with Serbia, squirreling under coils of razor wire

No entry: A rail wagon topped with barbwire blocked the former border exit in the early morning at the frontier between Serbia and Hungary

EU ministers meeting on Monday failed to break a deadlock over sharing out responsibility for some of the hundreds of thousands who have sought asylum in Europe this year.

Migrants were able to enter Hungary until midnight on Monday, in small groups queuing at an official pedestrian border crossing, but there was deep uncertainty over a possible bottleneck on the Serbian side on Tuesday as thousands continued to stream through the Balkans from Greece, having arrived by boat and dinghy from Turkey.

Aleksandar Vulin, the Serbian government minister in charge of policy on migrants, had earlier said Serbia would not accept anyone being returned to Serbia having already entered Hungarian territory.

'That's no longer our responsibility,' he told the Tanjug state news agency. 'They are on Hungarian territory and I expect the Hungarian state to behave accordingly towards them.'

THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS USING ROUTE THROUGH BULGARIA IN BID TO REACH EUROPE - DESPITE MAFIA FEARS Thousands of migrants are using a route into Europe through northwestern Turkey and Bulgaria - despite fears mafia people traffickers are operating in the region. Hundreds are taking the eastern Balkan route in an attempt to avoid high prices for the sea route via Greece and Turkey. But in doing so they are putting themselves at risk of coming into contact with crime networks in the region, the Times reports today. The newspaper said the route was popular in late 2013 as 10,000 Syrians made their way to Bulgaria illegally in just two months. Syrian migrants are pictured walking towards the Greece border on a road near Edirne, Turkey. Increasing numbers are coming through Turkey to reach the EU With an increase in police presence in Turkish coastal towns and with lower prices being charged for the crossing to Greece last year, those numbers dropped away. But the Times reports that more than 800 refugees were stopped by police in northwestern Turkey as they looked to cross over to either Bulgaria or Greece. Up to 150 are being caught by border police trying to reach Turkey's Edirne province. One Syrian woman, arrested at Bulgaria's border with Europe, reported how she had paid 1,700 Euros for a smuggler to take her from Turkey to Germany. Advertisement

In Switzerland, officials have said the country is ready to accept a migrant quota on the lines proposed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker - providing the EU accepts the plan.

'Only a system of sharing (refugees) can function in such unpredictable situations,' Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga told a news conference during her two-day visit to Slovenia.

'All states should stick to Dublin obligations and if the EU will stick to the Dublin system then Switzerland will do so as well,' she added. The Dublin system determines the rules for accepting asylum seekers.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor also expressed support for the quota system and said the migrant crisis may prove a bigger challenge to the European Union than the global financial crisis which started in 2008.

'We need a common European policy on the migrant issue ... If that is not reached shortly that could present a danger to the existence of the European Union,' Pahor said.

Meanwhile, around 1,000 asylum-seekers have crossed the frontier from Austria since Germany announced its policy U-turn on Sunday, federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf revealed talking in the southern German town of Freilassing.

Aid workers brought tents, food and water for about 500 migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, denied entry overnight amid Europe's worst refugee crisis in two decades

Migrants sleep in a temporary holding centre on the Austrian border after Hungarian authorities closed the open railway track crossing on Monday

Police have recorded over 190,000 entering Hungary this year, including a record for one day of more than 9,000 on Monday. Children are pictured sleeping in a temporary holding centre on the Austrian border

The window of opportunity for migrants to cross into Hungary is rapidly shrinking as Hungary puts the finishing touches to the fence the length of its 108 mile southern border

About 10 suspected people smugglers have been detained on the motorway since late Sunday night, he added.

The new measures are intended to provide relief to the Bavarian state capital Munich in particular, where around 63,000 migrants have come by rail to the main station since August 31, including 20,000 over each of the last two weekends.

Now police stationed in small border towns such as picture-postcard Freilassing are picking up refugees before they even reach the urban centres.

'Until now everyone was being shuttled to Munich,' Scharf said.

'Now we are carrying out a kind of pre-registration, taking people's names and so forth. Then they are being put on buses and can be distributed throughout Germany.'

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman insisted Monday that the country was not slamming its doors to refugees but argued the new measures were needed to restore order to the asylum process.

The railway station in Freilassing has now seen rail services from Austria resume after a brief interruption early on Monday but confusion for travellers reigned and road traffic remained snarled.

A policeman fixes a registration band on the wrist of a migrant's child at a train station near the border with Austria in Freilassing, Germany

A migrant family walks in the rain towards Nickelsdorf after crossing the Hungarian-Austrian border as rain poured down last night

The morning after: This was the scene on a stretch of empty railway track near the Serbia-Hungary border a day after 9,000 migrants entered Hungary

Migrants were able to enter Hungary until midnight on Monday, in small groups queuing at an official pedestrian border crossing

A woman cradles a sleeping child as they wait on a platform in Salzburg, Austria in the hope of taking a train destined for Germany

Police officers were tasked with removing migrants from trains and taking their personal details, giving each person a green wristband to mark them as 'registered' before social workers and volunteers provided many with food and drinks and a bunk for the night.

Over half a million migrants have crossed the European Union's border so far this year, up from 280,000 in 2014, the bloc's Frontex border agency said today - but warned some people may have been counted twice.

'More than 500,000 migrants were detected at EU borders in the first eight months of this year after a fifth consecutive monthly record was registered in August when 156,000 crossed the EU borders,' a Frontex statement said.

'However, a large number of the persons detected at the Hungarian border with Serbia had already been counted when they arrived in Greece from Turkey a few weeks earlier,' it added, suggesting the number of entries could be lower.

The Greek islands experienced the greatest 'number of detections in August at 88,000, an 11-fold rise compared to the same month last year.'

Syrian refugees accounted for nearly 75 percent of the people arriving in Greece from Turkey, Frontex said.

Frontex added that 'migrants arriving in Turkey speak about increasingly aggressive and cruel smugglers.'

Refugees wait to board a train to Serbia at a transit camp in Gevgelija, Macedonia, after entering the country by crossing the border with Greece

Around 7,600 migrants entered Macedonia in just 12 hours overnight - a record according to a UN official quoted by Macedonia's state news agency

Over half a million migrants have crossed the European Union's border so far this year, up from 280,000 in 2014, the bloc's Frontex border agency said today - but warned some people may have been counted twice. Refugees are pictured near the Greece-Turkey border

EU members are still at odds over how to accommodate the tens of thousands of new arrivals. Turkish authorities say they have rescued over 42,000 migrants from stricken boats since the beginning of the year

People smugglers 'ignore worsening weather conditions and force migrants on overcrowded rubber boats to squeeze a bigger profit out of every trip.

'Since the beginning of the year, 106,000 migrants were rescued in the Central Mediterranean (attempting to reach Italy), six percent fewer than in the same period of last year,' the statement said.

Harrowing pictures of three-year-old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi, whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach after the boat carrying his family to Kos sank, caused an outpouring of emotion around the world, pressuring European leaders to step up their response to the refugee crisis.

But two weeks later EU members are still at odds over how to accommodate the tens of thousands of new arrivals. Turkish authorities say they have rescued over 42,000 migrants from stricken boats since the beginning of the year.

The route across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece has become the busiest for migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe.

This afternoon, EU president Donald Tusk said Tuesday he would consider requests by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others for an emergency summit on migrants and decide later this week.

'During my consultations some leaders requested an extra EUCO (summit) on migration. I will continue consultations and announce my decision Thursday,' Tusk said on Twitter.

Tusk had last week warned that he would call a special summit if the ministers failed to agree on a solution at their meeting in Brussels, warning of the need for 'solidarity and unity.'

Merkel and her Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann on Tuesday jointly called for a summit to be held next week to deal with Europe's biggest migration crisis since World War II.