INDJIJA, Serbia (AP) – Desperate and cold after spending the night out in the open, more than 100 migrants who set off on foot toward the Hungarian border to protest EU’s closed borders agreed Wednesday to end their march and return to the Serbian capital of Belgrade.
Some wrapped in blankets and carrying backpacks, the migrants boarded two buses in the town of Indjija, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) north of Belgrade, where they camped overnight at a local gas station, braving rain and snapping wind.
Most of the migrants were young men and boys from countries like Afghanistan or Pakistan who stand little chance of getting into Hungary or other EU nations. The protest march ended on the same day as an Afghan aid conference in Brussels sought to fight poverty in the country.
The so-called Balkan migrant route, used by nearly 1 million people fleeing wars and poverty last year, formally closed in March, forcing migrants to use alternative routes and pay hefty sums to smugglers to get them across.
Serbian refugee officials said the migrants involved in the protest would be taken to the country’s already overcapacity centers for asylum-seekers, where thousands have been staying for months waiting for a chance to cross into neighboring EU nations Hungary or Croatia.