Hungary Fires Tear Gas to Prevent Migrants to Leave Reception Centre

Hungarian police used tear gas to prevent some 200 migrants to leave a reception center near the border with Serbia on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The police stepped in after migrants tried to leave the refugee registration center in Roszke without being fingerprinted. A police spokesman at the scene told AFP the sitiation has calmed down following the incident.

In a related development, the Hungarian government is considering options for deploying army troops to secure its southern border with Serbia, Reuters reported.

"Hungary's government and national security cabinet has discussed the question of how the army could be used to help protect Hungary's border and the EU's border," Reuters quoted government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs as saying. Hungary's parliament is going to discuss the issue next week, he added.

Hungary's police chief Karoly Papp announced earlier on Wednesday that they will send an additional 2,100 officers to the Serbian borderfrom September 5 to help regular police intercept illegal immigrants.

Hungary, member of the EU's passport-free Schengen zone, is building a razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia to keep out the migrants. Almost 110 km of the 175km has already been been erected.

Migrants, most of them saying they are fleeing war in Syria, aim to enter Hungary after travelling northwest along the so-called Balkan corridor - from Greece via non-EU Macedonia and Serbia - to proceed to northern and western Europe. Once they enter the borderless Schengen zone, their travel to the wealthier countries of the zone becomes much easier.