Migrants who are on hunger strike to pressure the Hungarian government to open the border stand at the border between Serbia and Hungary at Horgos, Serbia, July 26, 2016. EPA/BGNES
Hungary plans to appoint some 3000 more police officers to deal with what it describes as migratory pressure on its southern borders, an official has said.
The new officers are expected to patrol along the barbed-wire fence erected last year on the borders of Hungary with Croatia and Serbia, AP quotes Bence Tuzson, State Secretary for Government Communications, as saying.
Hungary has been toning up rhetoric against the migrant inflow into the country and warnings against Serbia that all who cross into its territory and are caught before having moved at least 8 km away from a border area will be sent back.
The country is to hold in October a referendum on whether to abide by EU migrant relocation plans.
Serbia for its part, reporting increased migratory pressure from its southern and southeastern borders, has decided to set up joint army and police patrols along its common frontiers with Bulgaria and Macedonia and has offered Bulgaria assistance in border protection.