Hungary taps troops, prisoners, jobless to fence out migrants

Sarok, Hungary

BUILT in a matter of weeks by soldiers, prison labourers and cadres of the unemployed, a vast new wall along Balkan frontiers is a monument to the ruthless efficiency with which Prime Minister Viktor Orban has mobilised Hungary against migrants.

Mr Orban describes the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees and other migrants in Europe this year from Asia, Africa and the Middle East as an attack on the continent's Christian welfare model.

Until last week, most trekked through Hungary, the main overland entry route into the EU's border-free Schengen zone from the Balkan peninsula, which they cross after arriving by dinghy in Greece.

While Europe dithered over a collective response, Hungary took matters into its own hands, shutting off the route with a new fence along its entire 175 kilometre border with Serbia, topped with raz…