LIVE BLOG: Refugee crisis in Europe

MEE's Mary Atkinson reports:

Just 10km outside of Debrecen resides the local migrant camp, one of the largest in the country.

Sited in a Soviet-era army barracks, the camp should house around 800 people. However, sources say upwards of 2000 people have been crammed in at a time as facilities in Hungary come under unprecedented pressure.

Journalists are not allowed into the site, and even the local volunteers are denied access.

Mary Atkinson reports from Debrecen, Hungary:

This is George.

He is homeless, and usually sleeps in the park over the road from the town's station.

Since the crisis hit, he's been helping out every day, carrying donations and welcoming migrants down from the trains that come in from the Serbian border.

"I never sleep more than two or three hours a night anyway," he told MEE, explaining how he manages to be so energetic when on late shifts.

MEE's Mary Atkinson reports from Hungary:

A group of around 15 migrants have just arrived from the camp around 10km away, hoping to catch the train to Budapest in two hours. Volunteers are passing around bananas and water. A group of police are standing about 10 metres away. The volunteers here expect many more groups of people to arrive from the nearby camp in the next few hours. With news that the Austrian authorities have decided not to close their border with Hungary after all, those arriving here tonight stand a better chance of managing to continue their journey westwards.

Our own Mary Atkinson is in Hungary covering the refugee crisis rocking Europe. Here is her latest report:

A huge convoy of police cars and vans have parked at the entrance to the train station in Debrecen. Migrants and volunteers are huddled in small groups, with police standing in the road around a local teenager.

Earlier, the tennager shouted "we will kill you! Get out of our country!"

A volunteer named Christine said the same boy was one of three who came by the same spot last week and attacked the migrants, kicking them and spitting on them. Now he is having a long discussion with the cops.

Behind the police vehicles, most of the migrants are sleeping, huddled on the marble floor of the station concourse in blankets and jackets.

The police declined to comment.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said Saturday the plight of thousands of migrants stranded in Hungary, now being taken into his country, was a "wake up call" for Europe.

"This has to be an eye opener how messed up the situation in Europe is now," Kurz said as he arrived for informal talks with his EU peers dominated by the deepening refugee crisis.

"I hope that this serves as a wake up call that (the situation) cannot continue."

Thousands of exhausted migrants were streaming into Austria from Hungary early Saturday.

MEE's Mary Atkinson is on the ground covering the refugee crisis in Austria. Here is her latest report:

It started to pour with rain in Debrecen, Hungary, but around 200 people are still expected to arrive at the station from the nearby migrant camp at around 2am local time.

"The government was forced to open the border today because the asylum seekers started to March," Aida tells me. "So they had to do something". It looks likely that the same situation will be replicated overnight tonight, with huge numbers of people heading for the capital in a bid to continue their journeys westwards by any means.

One of the volunteers, who lives in Debrecen, described how the Hungarian media have been covering the situation. "When the migrants started their March, they just wrote about how the people had left rubbish by the side of the road. People don't know about what is going on in Syria or Iraq. They only know what the government says, about the problems they say migrants bring. The other day I was helping the migrants down from the train and another passenger shouted at me that I am not Hungarian. I think he has a different idea of what it means to be Hungarian than I do. Anyway, I'm not here because I'm Hungarian. I'm here because I'm human."

Four vanloads of donations have just arrived at the small Hungarian town of Debrecen, driven across the border by a group of Austrian activists. Debrecen is currently home to the largest migrant camp in Hungary, and locals working with the charity Migration Aid say they have so far struggled to get enough food for the thousands of asylum seekers who have been arriving at the town's small rail station

"The Austrian public were very receptive," Laura, a student of German history from Vienna, told MEE. "We put out a call and within days we had €2000 in cash donations and another €1000 donated online."

"But the politicians haven't been so welcoming. Austria is an incredibly rich country, and we could afford to house many more people in a humane way. Instead, 5000 people have been forced to stay in a camp that was built to house just 2000. A woman gave birth in the camp garden last week. Others have been living on the streets for weeks. After this blows over, I worry that they will begin deporting people according to Dublin 2 regulations," she added.

A Hungarian police car drives past, stops briefly and drives on.

"We've heard that the Hungarian government has stopped helping people get across the border to Austria. If that's true, we'll be back with more donations soon," Laura said.

A refugee who died at a Hungarian train station on Friday was "trying to run away from the police” according to the United Nations refugee agency.

The 50-year old man was among 350 people whose train was held at a town outside Budapest, as they attempted to travel to the Austrian border.

He died after hitting his head on a train track after falling - Hungarian police initially claimed he had "collapsed".

Montserrat Feixas Vihé, the UNHCR’s Budapest-based representative, described the incident as "shocking".

“This tragic death illustrates the desperation of those arriving in Europe in search of safety,” he added.

“We urge the Hungarian authorities to put in place immediate and adequate emergency reception, assistance and registration capacity, so that refugees disembarking in Europe are welcomed into a safe and caring environment.”

MEE's reporter Mary Atkinson is in Hungary's capital Budapest covering the refugee crisis:

"An impromptu demonstration is taking place at Keteli station, with asylum seekers holding up signs bearing slogans like 'help us' and 'SOS'. Trains seem to Austria seem to be running, but many do not trust that they will be delivered safely. Nora, a mother of 3 from Syria, is sitting on the steps with 2 of her daughters.

"'The train is far too full. My daughter is ill,' she says, pointing to the young tired-looking girl next to her. 'They need to put on busses to take us straight to Austria. That's where we want to get to.'

"A man at the top of the station steps is shouting in Arabic, trying to convince those gathered here to get the next train, which he says is leaving in 15 minutes.

"'The police will be there to protect us' he says."

MEE's reporter Mary Atkinson is in Hungary's capital Budapest covering the refugee crisis, as refugee demonstrators move off from Keteli station:

"People are on the move now. The man on the steps is trying to organise the people gathered here into separate groups of families and young men. The families will be in the middle of the group, flanked on both sides by the single youths.

"There's a surreal party-like atmosphere just down a flight of steps from the station entrance. Groups of young people, a mixture of migrants and volunteers, are playing volleyball. Someone is banging on a drum with a plastic bottle filled with rice."

MEE's reporter Mary Atkinson is in Hungary's capital Budapest covering the refugee crisis:

"The owner of a clothes shop near the station says they've been extremely busy serving asylum seekers this week. 'It's mostly men buying things, not so many women. And of course they are buying things for their children, like socks and shoes. Mostly people need warm clothes - the weather here is very cold for them these days. It hasn't been difficult - people can point at what they want.'"

Hungary’s police chief has that said that no more buses will be provided to transfer refugees to the Austrian border.

“The provision of buses towards Austria was a one-off and there will be no more vehicles sent to refugees walking along the road” Karoly Papp told a news conference.

Hungary provided around 90 buses following a march on Friday towards Austria by around 1,200 migrants from Budapest’s Keleti train station. A second march to Austria began on Saturday featuring around 500 people.

EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini has warned that the refugee crisis in Europe is "here to stay."

"It is here to stay; the sooner we accept it, the sooner we will be able to respond effectively (and) united as Europeans," Mogherini said after a two-day meeting of foreign ministers.

"It affects all of us. A few months ago, it was Italy, Greece and Malta. Now it is Hungary and it could (be the) turn of other member states in the future," she added.

MEE's reporter Mary Atkinson is in Hungary's capital Budapest covering the refugee crisis:

"Outside Keleti international train station in central Budapest hundreds of people remain camped out on the forecourt, their belongings spread out on the concrete floor. Mothers are changing their babies nappies and children play with fluorescent streamers as tourists continue to stream through the makeshift camp. Many of these people were left at Nyugati, a domestic train station across town, after arriving at 7 this morning.

"After walking across town with carrying what belongings they have left, they are waiting here in hopes of travelling further westwards. Activists say the thousands of people bussed towards Hungary remain stuck on the border, where authorities are processing people one by one. For those who remain in Budapest, uncertainty reigns."

Graffiti spread by refugees on the walls of the forecourt depicts the flags of Germany, the Free Syrian Army, Kurdistan and the People's Protections Units among others: