This is an entry from: LIVE BLOG: Refugee crisis in Europe
'Where are the Arabs? Where are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai?'
5 September 2015 16:35 BST
MEE's reporter Mary Atkinson is in Hungary's capital Budapest covering the refugee crisis - she spoke to Mohammed Awis, who came to Hungary 20 years ago from Egypt, and runs a bustling internet cafe just down the road from Keleti Station.
Sitting beside a huge Egyptian flag and beneath printed copies of Ancient Egyptian art, he watches news reports filmed just 100 metres away, as hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers gather at the international train station looking to travel further west towards Austria and Germany:
"Where are the Arabs? Where are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai? They are the richest countries in the world, they could help 10 million refugees. But instead they are sitting with their hands tied.
"I don't think Europe is doing enough either. You see little kids coming on the boats, fighting with the border police. And they won't stop coming either. From Syria, from Algeria, from Africa. People from Africa are fleeing economic problems - it's not like Syria. There will be even more problems in the future. Large numbers have started coming from Egypt too, and large numbers of them are dying in the sea. The problem is that there is no respect for human rights in the Arab world. No-one can speak out, no-one can raise his voice. Look at Egypt - for 60 years we've had military rule, from Gamal Abdel Nasser till now, and it's still like that. We've never had a civilian president. The economy of the country is going down the pan, and those who speak out are being killed. That's why the refugees won't stop coming.
"The authorities are scared that those coming over are actually members of Islamic State. That is another way Arab leaders have harmed their people - by allowing IS to grow. Now people will find it impossible to claim asylum in Europe.
"The latest wave of asylum seekers is having a big impact on things here in Hungary, and especially for the other migrants who have been here a long time. When I arrived 20 years ago things were so easy - it was simple to get a visa. Things have changed now though. Just yesterday the far-right supporters marched down this street carrying their flags. And the police were protecting them. I heard a boy, an asylum seeker, was stabbed to death in the interior of Hungary yesterday. Several Hungarians have told me they won't come to my cafe any more because asylum seekers use it - they say they don't like the smell."
At an internet café near the station a man in full motorbike leathers walks in and has a long discussion with Mohammed, in Hungarian. Afterwards Mohammed tells me the man was asking for help contacting Syrians, saying he could sort out their immigration papers in exchange for €1500. "It's a black market," says Mohammed. "A black market in people."
