Germany anticipates up to 7,000 people pouring across its borders from Hungary over a 48-hour span, authorities told NBC News — a final stop for asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in their homelands.
Neighboring Austria said it received at least 6,500 refugees and migrants who flooded across the Hungarian border Saturday, where charity workers provided hospitality and much-needed bedding and food.
Hungarian authorities had spent most of the week trying to force those crossing into the country to report to government-run refugee centers to apply for asylum in their initial European Union entry point as the 28-nation bloc's rules require.
But thousands refused — some expressing fears that Hungary would deport or detain them indefinitely — and demanded free passage overwhelmingly to Germany.
