Migrant crisis: Hungary calls on army reservists to deal with influx of refugees

Hungary has called up its volunteer military reservists to help deal with the migrant crisis on its borders. The recently appointed defence minister István Simicskó made the decision at the request of the chief of the Hungarian general staff, state news agency MTI reported on Saturday.

The reservists would mainly be used to staff garrisons left empty by soldiers deployed to the border but could be assigned to other duties, the agency said. It was not clear how many reservists had been called up for duty.

This comes as the relationships between Hungary and its neighbours, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, deteriorate as the struggle to contain the influx of asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East. On Friday, Croatia transported thousands of migrants to the Hungarian border.

Croatia accused of 'human smuggling'

Hungary accused Croatia of committing a "major violation of international law" by allowing more than 1,000 refugees to take a train across its border, which was then stopped as around 40 Croatian police on board were disarmed and returned and the train driver arrested, according to Reuters.

Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said it showed "the Croatian system for handling migrants and refugees has collapsed, basically in one day".

"What we see today is a complete failure of the Croatian state to handle migration issues," he added. "What is more, we see intentional participation in human smuggling, taking these migrants to the Hungarian border."

The seizure of the Croatian train is the latest development in a row that has left the fate of thousands of migrants uncertain. Croatia's foreign minister, Vesna Pusić, said the countries had agreed "to provide a corridor" towards Austria, but Hungary's spokesman told Sky News that was a "lie".

EU migrant chaos

Antal Rogán, chief aide to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said because of Croatia's handling of the migration crisis, Hungary will block Croatia's accession to the European Union's passport-free Schengen zone, which now covering 26 countries, Sky reported.

In other developments, Slovenian riot police used pepper spray overnight as they clashed with about 500 migrants trying to cross from Croatia and continue north.

This comes as the Toroczkai László, the right-wing Hungarian mayor of Ásotthalom, a town on the Hungary-Serbia border, published a threatening video on YouTube warning migrants not to enter Hungary. In the video, which features armed police and apparent militia patrolling the border in cars, helicopters and on motorcycles and horseback to dramatic music, the mayor advises migrants and refugees to travel through Croatia to reach Austria, warning that: "Hungary is a bad choice. Ásotthalom is the worst."