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Dozens Of Migrants Living In Vacant Farmhouses Near Hungary-Serbia Border


A pair of shoes belonging to a child lie in a snow-covered field in the northern Serbian village of Backi Vinogradi near the Hungarian border.
A pair of shoes belonging to a child lie in a snow-covered field in the northern Serbian village of Backi Vinogradi near the Hungarian border.

Dozens of migrants, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, are living in freezing conditions in abandoned buildings near the Hungarian border in Serbia.

Some have taken shelter near the towns of Horgos and Backi Vinogradi, in the province of Vojvodina.

Many migrants are living in abandoned farmhouses near the border, where they are trying to make it through a winter.

Local residents, mostly farmhouse owners, have recently expelled migrants from Backi Vinogradi, saying that they are destroying their property.

Thousands of migrants and refugees have been stuck in Serbia after tighter border controls shut down the so-called "Balkan route" into the European Union in 2015.

Hungary closed its border completely in 2015. and since then it has allowed only 10 people per day, mostly families, to enter from Serbia.

According to Serbian aid groups, about 4,000 people live in official migrant camps in Serbia.

But the groups estimate that a further 500 people live outside these facilities, fearing they could be deported or be prevented from crossing into the EU, via Hungary or Croatia, if the chance arises.

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