György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, has told public television channel M1 that it seems that negotiations in Kiskunhalas have been successful. No violence is expected in the secure reception centre, where on Wednesday around three hundred detained migrants protested for better conditions and faster administration of their cases, threatening to break out from the camp.
Mr. Bakondi said that the authorities are in continuous negotiations with representatives of the migrants. Both a break-out and a potential attack on police officers is unlikely, he added.
He said that the incident at the secure reception centre – from which migrants cannot leave freely – had started on Wednesday morning. Inmates at the reception centre are migrants who have been apprehended and detained for crossing the border illegally or for other crimes, and who have submitted asylum requests in order to avoid expulsion.
In essence the migrants are demanding to be relocated to open reception centres and to have their asylum procedures accelerated, Mr. Bakondi explained. He stressed that Hungarian law applies also to foreigners and migrants. The legally prescribed deadlines for procedures cannot be changed as a result of pressure from migrants, who cannot be placed in open reception camps.
The Chief Security Advisor stressed that staff at the reception centre are doing everything possible to provide appropriate care and accommodation. The reception centre is in a new building, he added. Mr. Bakondi also pointed out that there has already been a similar incident in Kiskunhalas, when illegal migrants threw stones at officers. On that occasion, he noted, far fewer migrants took part in the disturbance.