1. DAILYMIRROR SATURDAY 05.09.20156 DM1ST
EUROPE’S REFUGEE CRISIS: MIGRANTS TAKE TO ROAD
U-turn David Cameron
UKtotakein
‘thousands’
moreSyrians
DAVID Cameron has
confirmed that Britain will
take in “thousands” more
Syrian refugees and vowed
£100million more in aid.
The Prime Minister said
days ago that taking more
in was not the answer to
the crisis but yesterday
caved in to public pressure.
Mr Cameron said: “We
will do more, providing
resettlement for thousands
more Syrian refugees.”
The extra £100million
will take total aid spending
in Syria since 2011 above
£1billion. The UN said
Britain will take 4,000
from its camps on the
Syrian border but Downing
Street said a figure will be
agreed next week.
Critics called on the PM
to also take refugees and
migrants already in
Europe. Former Lib Dem
Leader Lord Ashdown said:
“This looks less like a plan
to do with refugees, more
like a diversion strategy.”
GESTURE Sir Bob Geldof
SirBob:Ican
givehomes
to4families
SIR Bob Geldof offered to
take in four refugee
families yesterday as he
slammed the crisis as a
“sickening disgrace”.
The musician behind
Live Aid said he could put
the refugees up in his
homes in London and Kent.
The former Boomtown
Rat said: “If there’s a new
economy then there needs
to be a new politics and it’s
a failure of that new
politics that’s led to this
disgrace, this absolute
sickening disgrace.
“Me and [my partner]
Jeanne would be prepared
to take three families in
our place in Kent and a
family in our flat in London
and put them up until they
can get going and get a
purchase on their future.”
Sir Bob also told
Ireland’s RTE that images
of three-year-old Aylan
Kurdi’s body washed up in
Turkey were a source of
“profound shame”.
to some of the desperate families walking
through the night along the M1.
Hundreds of Hungarian wellwishers
lined the route and gave fruit, water and
biscuits to the masses of people travelling
with few if any belongings.
Migrants shouted, “thank you, thank
you” but many refused to accept the food
and drink – instead pleading for it to be
given to the children at the back of the
long line of marchers.
As night fell, the groups stopped for a
short while at the side of the road outside
a service station before gathering them-
selves and setting off again. In a day of
80C heat along the M7 and later the M1
outside Budapest, he said: “The people of
Hungary do not want to help so we have
no choice. We will walk until we can walk
no more. We have suffered so this is just
another step along the way.
“Do the people of Europe see nothing?
All the cameras are here but there is no
help. But we are strong together.”
A few of the migrants organised the
groupsintolinesastheytrudgedalongthe
road while cars and lorries whizzed by.
Peopletriedtokeeptothehardshoulder
but often spilled out on to the carriage.
The Mirror handed out basic supplies
The situation is very real. People will die.
Many are without food and water but still
we will walk together. We will carry each
other if needs be.”
Hamdi said Islamic State terrorists had
forced his family and many others to flee
their hometown of Raqqa.
TheMirrorjoinedthe
refugees as they
marched. Children
clutcheddollsandteddy
bears as they clung to
their parents.
The dangerous trek
along busy motorways
could take two weeks.
Refugees walked as
many as 20-wide across
the carriage as aston-
ished drivers looked on.
Manyofthemarchers
speakofreachingVienna
andthenontoGermany
which has said it is taking in thousands of
migrants. But some walkers have no idea
where they are going.
Musa Hal, 36, an electrician from Syria,
is marching with his sister and three
brothers.Aswewalkedforsixhoursinthe
have been saying I am holding a bomb
and the fuse is slowly burning.
“Two days ago I sent a letter asking
to declare the island in a state of
emergency. Today I am asking the
Prime Minister for immediate
relief measures. The situation has
become unmanageable.”
Teargasbattleonholsislepolice on the Greek island of Lesbos
used tear gas and batons as migrants
tried to board a boat to the mainland.
The 200 refugees then pelted
officers and coastguards with stones.
The mayor of the holiday island’s
main town has begged for help. Spyros
Galinos said: “For four months now I
TheLONGMARCH
Masseswalkon»»
motorwaytoAustria
‘»» We’llcarryeach
otherifwehaveto’
Aconvoyofhumanmisery,including
bewildered and exhausted children,
march on a busy motorway in their
search for a better life.
Thousandsofdesperatemigrantsbegan
walking from Hungary’s
c a p i t a l B u d a p e s t
yesterday in the hope of
reaching Austria more
than 100 miles away.
They are on the move
toavoidhavingtoregister
for asylum in Hungary.
DetermineddadHamdi
Rasha,28,fromSyria,and
hisfamilywereamongthe
crowdswhoembarkedon
the long walk after being
camped outside Keleti
trainstationinBudapest.
Walking with his wife,
four-year-old daughter and six-year-old
sonalongtheM7outsideBudapest,Hamdi
said: “We have no other way – we will do
anything it takes.
“Our homeland is gone, we can never
go back there. Where is the help for us?
ESCAPE Fleeing Bicske camp
FLEEING
Column
crosses
over river
by RUSSELL MYERS inHungary
DM1ST
SATURDAY 05.09.2015 DAILYMIRROR 7mirror.co.uk
EUROPE’S REFUGEE CRISIS: MIGRANTS TAKE TO ROAD
victims too.” The four were charged
with causing the death of more
than one person and people
smuggling.
At the funeral in mainly Kurdish
Kobani, Abdullah told mourners: “I
don’t blame anyone else for this.
“I just blame myself. I will have to
pay the price for the rest of my life.”
His uncle Suleiman
Kurdi said: “He only
wanted to go to Europe
for the children.
“Now they’re dead, he
wants to stay here.”
Meanwhile, the
desperate flight for a
better life goes on.
Turkish coastguards
turned back 57 people in
three boats – Syrians,
Afghans and Pakistanis –
trying to make the
two-mile crossing to Kos.
Mydutytotellstory
SHOCK Nilufer Demir
THE photographer who took the picture of Aylan
Kurdi that shocked the world has said it was her
duty to make his tragic story heard.
Nilufer Demir, 29, spotted the three-year-old
Syrian’s body in the surf near Bodrum, Turkey, on
Wednesday. She said: “I was petrified. He was
lifeless, face-down in the surf. The only thing I could
do was to make his outcry heard. I thought I had to
take his picture to show the tragedy.”
The Dogan News Agency snapper then spotted
Aylan’s brother, Galip, five, nearby. She added:
“They didn’t have lifejackets, arm floats, anything
to help them to float in the water.”
border with Serbia, in the hope of
stemming the influx of people.
Tens of thousands have entered
Hungaryinrecentmonths.Around3,000
refugees had slept rough outside Keleti
stationfromMonday, afterbeingstopped
from boarding trains to
western Europe.
Police said yesterday
300 migrants broke out of
a holding camp near the
Serbian border and were
pursued by officers.
Elsewhere, refugees in
Calais went on hunger
strike. And a group of 100
from the Jungle camp
marched towards the
town chanting “freedom”.
Police in Austria said
the death of 71 Syrians in
a truck last week was
nearly followed by another tragedy.
Officers said the same gang of traf-
fickersallegedlymastermindedasecond
lorry a day later in which 81 people
escaped as they were about to suffocate.
russell.myers@mirror.co.uk
there into yesterday afternoon when
police stormed the train and forced the
men,womenandchildrenoffandherded
them on coaches bound for camps for
asylum seekers.
But many at Bicske outflanked the
authorities by making their
dash for freedom.
The drama unfolded as
it was revealed Hungary’s
anti-immigration Prime
Minister Viktor Orban
warned that the influx of
Muslim refugees was
threatening Europe’s
“Christian roots”.
He said: “We may one
morning wake up and
realise we are in the
minorityonourownconti-
nent.” In an astonishing
move yesterday, Hungary’s
parliament passed a series of laws to
control the flow of migrants into the
country,givingpolicemoreauthorityand
settingoutstrictpunishmentsincluding
prison terms of up to three years for
illegal border crossing.
Hungary is building a fence along its
chaotic scenes across Hungary, huge
groupsofrefugeesleaptoverthe5ft-high
fenceataholdingcampinBicsketoavoid
being processed.
These were people who were among
the 1,000 on Thursday who fought to
scramble on a train at Keleti station,
rumoured to be destined for Germany.
Six carriages left the station at 11am
but were stopped 20 minutes later in
Bicskeandmetbymorethan200heavily
armed riot police who tried to force the
passengers off the train.
Ahandfulwereremovedbuthundreds
refused to disembark. They remained
The British Red Cross is running
an appeal to help the refugees. To
donate, go to www.redcross.org.uk or phone 0300 023 0825
HOW TO HELPFIGHT Migrants struggle to board boat
TheLONGMARCH
We have
suffered so
this is just
another
step along
the way
REFUGEE Musa HalON
THEDESPERATEMARCH
ROAD FROM
HELL Refugees
bid for better life
EN ROUTE
Girl is glad to
get piggy back
EXHAUSTED Marcher
wheels tired family
Dadburiesfamilyas
traffickersfacecourtBy Andy Lines, ChiefReporterin
Bodrum,Turkey
THE refugee dad who lost his wife
and two small sons in a tragedy that
shook the world has laid them to rest.
Abdullah Kurdi buried Aylan,
three, Galip, five, and their mother
Rehan in the Syrian border town of
Kobani as four men suspected of
organising their ill-fated bid to
escape the war-torn country
appeared in court.
Pictures of the little boys’
corpses on a Turkish beach led to
an outcry for more global action.
They drowned with their mum
when their boat sank en route from
Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos.
Hard-working Kurdish barber
Abdullah, 40, wept as their bodies
were lowered into the ground.
Just months ago 11 of his family
were killed by Islamic State,
prompting him to flee
with his family.
He paid thousands
of Euros in a desperate
bid to get to Europe.
And yesterday four
suspected traffickers,
all Syrian, were led
into court in handcuffs
in Bodrum.
Two of them wept.
Their mothers hugged
them and said: “They
are innocent. They are
poignant Three coffins at graveside
horror Mirror picture
GRIEF Abdullah,
right, holds Aylan
at burial yesterday
Voice of the Mirror page 8: Brian Reade, 13
Pictures:IANVOGLER andPHILHARRIS