Hungary completes fence to stop refugees

Budapest (dpa) - Hungary completed the fence along its border with Serbia with which it aims to keep refugees and migrants out, the state news agency MTI reported late Saturday, quoting the defence ministry.Conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban‘s government ordered the 175-kilometre fence as the number of refugees from the Middle East has soared this year. The move has stirred international controversy.Orban‘s government has also prepared a bill, which if passed by parliament as expected next week, will introduce harsh sentences for trespassers: three years for an illegal crossing of the border and five for the damaging of the fence.The legislative package includes the formation of an internment zone for refugees in the border zone.The fence has so far not slowed the inflow of refugees who arrive via the Balkan migrants route from Turkey, across the Aegean Sea and Greece, Macedonia and Serbia.On Friday, 2,822 refugees were registered, down from 3,241, the latest daily record set on Wednesday, Hungarian police said.Hungary plans to build another, 4-metre tall razor-wire fence, by the end of October.The tens of thousands of refugees, mostly from Syria, are not interested in remaining in the countries they transit, but hope to apply for asylum in Germany and other wealthy EU countries.