Hundreds of Refugees on Hunger Strike While Crossing from Serbia to Hungary

Hundreds of Middle Eastern and Asian refugees, who are marching towards the borders of Hungary while passing through Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, have announced a hunger strike to draw attention to their request for entry into Eastern Europe. According to a report on Friday, July 23, by Reuters, most members of this group of 300 are refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, but there are no children or women among them. Last month, Hungarian police, the northern neighbor of Serbia and a member of the European Union, returned refugees who had been detained after illegally entering the country back to Serbia, and according to Reuters, since then, the number of refugees admitted daily in Hungary has decreased to a maximum of 30. Reuters reported from Belgrade that on Friday, Serbian police accompanied the refugees as they passed through central Belgrade towards the New Belgrade area. According to the police, these refugees are heading towards the Hungarian border, which is 200 kilometers away from Belgrade. An anonymous police officer told the news agency that the police are accompanying this group of refugees to ensure their safety and prevent any incidents along the way. According to the report, this group of refugees has been on a hunger strike since Friday morning, and according to the director of the Refugee Information Center in Belgrade, their demand is for the borders to open and for passage through Hungary. He confirmed that most of these refugees spent the previous night in a park. Reuters writes that last year, 650,000 refugees passed through Serbia on their way to European Union countries, and more than 100,000 refugees have crossed from Serbia since the beginning of this year. The report states that Serbian police and army forces have launched joint patrols in border areas in the past week to control the situation. Reuters also referenced statements made by Serbia's Minister of Social Affairs on Friday, who said that about 3,000 refugees are stranded in the country. Aleksandar Vulin emphasized that this situation is unbearable for his country as European countries cannot reach a common solution to the refugee crisis. Unlike in 2015, when European countries attempted to organize the orderly passage of refugees, the closing of the Balkan borders in recent months has led many refugees to attempt to cross the borders illegally or to resort to human trafficking networks.