Arrogant Hungary police feeding refugees ‘like animals’

A newly released video shows Hungarian police forces distributing food among refugees in a humiliating manner, causing outrage among rights groups all over the world.

Uploaded on YouTube late on Thursday, the video depicted Hungarian police forces throwing food packages, sandwiches and bread at the asylum seekers who were forced behind fences in the notorious Roszke refugee camp.

“It was inhumane and it really speaks for these people that they didn’t fight over the food despite being clearly very hungry,” said Michaela Spritzendorfer, an Austrian volunteer who filmed the debasing incident on Wednesday.

Spritzendorfer and her fellow activist Klaus Kufner had visited the camp to provide food, clothes and medication for the refugees.

“It was like animals being fed in a pen, like Guantanamo in Europe,” Kufner went on to say.

Earlier in the week, the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) voiced concern over the dire conditions of asylum seekers in Roszke camp.

Hungary’s harsh policies against refugees have infuriated the international community and rights groups.

In late August, the right-wing government in Budapest announced that the construction of a razor-wire barrier along its southern border with Serbia to curb the influx of asylum seekers was completed. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also set a deadline of October 31 for the building of another four-meter-high fence along the country’s borders.

The European country has further ratified a law which allows police forces to arrest and jail the refugees on charges of illegal border crossing. The UNHCR warned that the law, due to go into effect on Tuesday, could exacerbate the refugee crisis.

“It is important that the implementation of that legislation is well thought through … Otherwise, that could lead to chaos after September 15 at the border,” the UNHCR’s Europe director Vincent Cochotel stated.

Hungary is a transit zone for thousands of asylum seekers from the war-ridden countries of the Middle East and Africa who try to reach Western Europe.

Earlier in the day, the UN announced that 7,600 refugees, mostly from violence-ravaged Syria, entered Macedonia from Greece between 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Wednesday and 6 p.m. on Thursday.

“We have information from our Greek colleagues that the buses are on the way, so they will be coming and they continue to come,” Alexandra Krause, the UNHCR’s senior protection officer, reported.

The United Nations has predicted that the number of refugees heading for Europe will drastically increase in the near future.

“In 2015, the UNHCR anticipates that approximately 400,000 new arrivals will seek international protection in Europe via the Mediterranean. In 2016, this number could reach 450,000 or more,” read a statement by the world body.