In scenes chillingly reminiscent of the holocaust, Czech police, arresting mostly Syrian refugees fleeing civil war, have been pictured marking their detainees with numbers in ink.

The migrants and refugees, including women and children, were ordered off trains in Břeclav, a Czech border town between Slovakia and Austria. The passengers were headed west to Hungary, Germany and Austria.

Local media reported that dozens of police officers were deployed to meet the incoming train. One hundred migrants were removed from the first train and arrested in the aftermath.

The governor for the region recognised the number as a "sad record". Police said the detainees had been ranked into groups, with families kept together. They are being held in Brno, Hodonin and Břeclav, zpravy.cz reported.

The Czech government is considering the creation of a railway corridor to facilitate the passage of refugees to Germany, radio.cz reported. Berlin has said it expects to process 800,000 requests for asylum this year.

The EU member has decided to scrap its adherence to the Dublin protocol, which previously meant refugees were expected to seek asylum in the first country they arrived in.

The plan has not been welcomed by the Czech Republic, which also is also opposed to quotas for migrants in EU states.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is due to meet with his Hungarian, Polish and Slovak counterparts to discuss a common position toward pressure from Berlin and Brussels on the quotas issue.

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