Photo Gallery Germany Controls Its Borders
Germany on Sunday introduced border controls with Austria in an effort to slow down the massive influx of refugees coming into the country in recent days. The move left refugees like these ones stranded at the train station in Vienna. Many vow they will continue their trip to Germany despite the move.
Germany has accepted a huge number of refugees in recent weeks, but would like to see the installation of an EU-wide distribution system to share the burden. Many European countries, however, have opposed the idea. Here, a German policeman plays with a child through the window of a train from Munich to Berlin.
The introduction of border controls on Sunday between Germany and Austria resulted in long traffic jams between Salzburg and Munich. Train travel was likewise temporarily suspended, but resumed again on Monday morning.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière announcing the decision to control Germany's border with Austria on Sunday. "I demand that all European member states once again adhere (to Dublin) in the future, the German interior minister said. Refugees, he added, cant simply choose" in which country they want to apply for asylum.
German police watch as migrants are taken off of a train bound for Munich from Vienna. A German government spokesman said on Monday that the border controls do not mean that Germany has stopped accepting refugees.
Border guards in Passau. The temporary reintroduction of border controls is allowed under the European border-free travel Schengen regime. But the controls must be lifted within a short amount of time, though extensions may be granted.
Over 10,000 refugees poured into Austria on Sunday from Hungary. An official in the eastern German state of Saxony said that border controls may also be introduced on the frontier with Czech Republic.
Over the weekend, the Austrian side of the Nickelsdorf border-crossing with Hungary was packed with refugees. From there, they were to be bused to Vienna.
One of the reasons for the introduction of border controls between Germany an Austria was the sheer number of refugees who have arrived in Munich in the last few weeks. While some have been sent onwards to shelters in other German states, Munich has born the brunt of the influx and has begun running out of room. This image shows refugees at a tent camp not far from the main Munich train station.
Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer has been extremely critical of Chancellor Angela Merkel's handling of the refugee crisis and even invited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (seen here in a 2014 archive photo with the governor) to Munich as an affront to Merkel. On Monday, Seehofer struck a different tone, saying: "We remain a humane and helping state."
Refugees resting in a parking lot at the main train station in Salzburg, Austria, on Sunday. Now that they are no longer allowed to freely cross the border into Germany, it is unclear where they will ultimately end up.
Hungary on Monday sent its military to the country's border with Serbia on Monday in an attempt to stop the influx of migrants there.
