Thousands of migrants FINALLY make it to Germany and Austria

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The buses are taking them to Austria's capital Vienna and Germany, which expects to take in over 800,000 this year
They began the 100-mile march to the border after Hungary cancelled international trains heading to the two nations
Hungary reversed its hard-line stance on migrants after being 'overwhelmed by sheer numbers of unwanted visitors'
More than 50,000 exhausted migrants entered Hungary last month and a record 3,300 entered country on Thursday

Published: 02:29 EST, 5 September 2015 | Updated: 11:27 EST, 5 September 2015

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Thousands of exhausted migrants and refugees who travelled thousands of miles from war-torn countries have finally reached Germany and Austria.

More than 4,500 crossed into Austria and another 450 into Germany after the two Western nations opened their doors to asylum seekers fleeing terror and persecution.

They started on the 100-mile march from Budapest, Hungary, last night after the country banned them from international trains.

It changed course and organised buses to take them to the Austrian border to ease the massive build up of migrants, but thousands are still walking down north on the M1 motorway linking Budapest to Vienna.

Wrapped in blankets to shield themselves from the pouring rain, thousands climbed off buses on the Hungarian side of the border this morning and walked into Austria where aid workers were waiting with food and hot tea.

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Relief: A father cradling his exhausted son offers a smile as he waves to cameras at Munich train station after arriving in Germany after a treacherous journey alongside thousands of refugees on Saturday

Innocent: A young migrant whose family has travelled thousands of miles after fleeing their home country finally reaches Germany

Elated: A young migrant boy tries on a police officer's cap at the main station in Munich, Germany, after arriving with the first 'special' train from Salzberg

Joy: A little girl is guided through crowds of refugees as they arrive at Munich rail station on Saturday after reaching Merkel's promised land by train

New home: A migrant family look delighted as they board a train bound for Munich at a station in Nickelsdorf, Austria

Distraught: Around 4,500 migrants arrived in Austria from Hungary over night, and around 450 have reached Germany

Nearly there: More than 4,000 exhausted migrants are now waiting for trains in Vienna, Austria, which will take them to Germany

Border crossing: A migrant woman carries a child as she waits for a train at the railway station in Nickelsdorf, Austria

Wait in line: Migrants wait in a queue to board a train in Nickelsdorf, Austria, which will take them to the capital Vienna

Last leg: Thousands queued for trains at stations across Austria on Saturday (above) as the first groups of migrants reached Germany

Journey: Refugees arriving from Middle Eastern countries and Africa Migrants arriving at railway station in Vienna, Austria (pictured)

Transport: Hungary organised buses to take thousands of migrants to the Austrian border - and separate buses then took them to Vienna (pictured)

Finally here: More than 4,000 exhausted, rain-soaked migrants arrived on the Austrian border today, and walk into the country which has agreed to allow asylum seekers to enter

Nothing left: Thousands of exhausted migrants streamed into Austria on Saturday, bussed to the border by a Hungarian government that gave up trying to hold them back

First arrivals: Thousands of refugees reached Austria early this morning after busloads left Hungary in a mass exodus after the Austrian and German governments agreed to receive them

Next leg: They were greeted by aid workers who gave them food and water before they boarded special buses which took them to the capital, Vienna

Everyone welcome: Migrants walk to buses to take them further into Austria after they crossed the border from Hungary

Humanitarian: The Austrian Red Cross (pictured) help out as migrants wait on the Hungarian-Austrian border for buses to Vienna

Newcomers: Hundreds of migrants wait for trains at the Austrian border which will take them to Vienna

Drained: Many migrants (pictured) collapsed on the floor from exhaustion upon entering Austria - having traveled thousands of miles from war-torn countries

Happy to be there: Migrants looked delighted as they walked across the border into Austria after buses ferried them from Hungary

Desperate: Carrying small, sleeping children and what little belongings they have, migrants began the 100-mile journey from Budapest to the Austrian border

Not welcome: The migrants refused to go to processing centres - as demanded by the government - because they feared they would be deported

Almost there: Migrants walk across the Hungarian-Austrian border on foot after their arrival into a transit zone by public bus to the Hungarian border

Moving: Thousands have been flooding into Austria (pictured) today, and German police have said they expect as many as 10,000 refugees to arrive in the country today.

Hungry: A migrant child holds up a banana as he crosses the Hungarian-Austrian border on foot near the village of Nickelsdorf

Happy: A young refugee boy smiles as he arrives on the Hungary-Austria border where buses are taking people to the capital, Vienna

Arrivals: Migrants cloaked themselves in blankets to shield themselves from the pouring rain as they arrived on the Hungary-Austria border

Influx: Thousands of migrants arrived at the Austrian border (pictured) this morning and 'many more' are expected to flood in today

Stranded: A young girl - presumably one of the migrants who are being ferried to the Austrian border -is cared for by an aid worker on the M1 motorway between Budapest and Vienna

Migrants collapsed on the floor from exhaustion, having trekked from the Middle East, boarded trains through Central Europe and crawled under barbed wire on the southern Hungarian border.

Special buses took them to them from the border to the capital Vienna where hundreds boarded yet another train to Munich, Germany - the so-called 'promised land'.

Many of the arrivals are thought to be Syrian refugees fleeing the country's civil war and the ISIS terror group which has carved a bloody path through the Middle East.

Chancellor George Osborne today said the world must tackle the 'evil regime' of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the ISIS terror group to solve the migrant crisis gripping Europe.

German police have said they expect as many as 10,000 refugees to arrive in the country today, and Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would not stop anyone from seeking asylum.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced yesterday that Britain is to increase its aid budget to more than £1billion, and promised to take 'thousands' of Syrian refugees living in refugee camps.

George Osborne said the country needs to boost aid, take down people smugglers and deal with the never-ending war in Syria to stem the migrant crisis.

He said: 'You've got to deal with the problem at source, which is this evil Assad regime and the ISIL (Islamic State) terrorists, and you need a comprehensive plan for a more stable, peaceful Syria. A huge challenge of course, but you can't just let that crisis fester. We've got to get engaged in that.'

Walking on: The Hungarian authorities organised hundreds of buses to take migrants to the Austrian border but hundreds continue to march up the M1 motorway (left) - an on rail tracks (right) - to the country today

Determined: Despite the buses taking thousands of migrants and refugees to the Austrian border, many have continued to march the 100-mile route

Long walk: Large numbers of refugees walk along a lane of the M1 motorway near to Nickelsdorf, on the Austria-Hungarian border

Safety first: Refugees hold up a paper warning from traffickers and showing safe means of transport, as they wait to continue their journey west from Eastern Railway Station in Budapest

March: Carrying small, sleeping children and what little belongings they have, they began the 100-mile march to the border overnight

Migration: Dozens of buses are taking thousands of exhausted migrants to the Hungary-Austria border, and many more are expected to travel

Leaving: Carrying his exhausted toddler, a man runs to board a bus provided by the Hungarian authorities to take them to the Austrian border

Almost there: Thousands of migrants entered Austria overnight after Hungary organised buses to take them across the border.

Delighted: Migrants wave from a bus as they wake up to a new dawn in East Railway Station in Budapest, Hungary

Exhausted: Dozens of double-decker buses will take them to Austria and Germany, according to Burgenland's chief of police

Jubilant: A migrant boy looks out from a bus bound for Austria and Germany, next to the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary

Journey: Migrants reportedly yelled, 'Thank you! Thank you!' as the buses took them across the Hungarian border to Austria

Moving again: Hungary's government said it would deliver around 100 buses (pictured) to pick up migrants in Budapest and another 1,200 striding down the main highway to Vienna

Excited: Migrants cheered and yelled 'Thank you!' as buses took them to Austria and Germany, who have agreed to grant them asylum

'We must offer asylum to those who are genuinely fleeing persecution. Countries like Britain always have, we are one of the founders of the asylum system. We will take, as the prime minister said, thousands more.'

Austria and Germany both waived the rules of their countries' asylum systems - pushed to breaking point by the worst refugee crisis in decades - and agreed to let thousands of migrants in today.

'We're happy... We'll all go to Germany,' said one Syrian man near the Hungarian border, while another said: 'Hungary should be fired from the European Union. Such bad treatment.'

Osama, 23, from Syria, said: 'We are very happy that something is happening at last. The next stop is Austria. The children are very tired, Hungary is very bad, we have to go somehow.'

Carrying small, sleeping children and what little belongings they have, they began the 100-mile march to the border overnight after Hungary cancelled international trains and demanded they report to processing centres.

SPORTS TEAMS AND GOVERNING BODIES ARE DONATING MILLIONS TO HELP REFUGEES

World-famous football clubs Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Celtic - as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) - have donated millions of pounds to help the thousands of refugees reaching Europe.

Real Madrid, who donated £730,000 to help the refugees 'taken in by Spain', are also considering measures to help the 'youngest refugees'.

The Spanish side wrote on its website: 'Faithful to its commitment to charity, the club has taken this decision with the aim of supporting men, women and children who have been forced to leave their homes in order to flee from war and death.'

Tens of thousands of migrants have arrived in Europe recently, many fleeing the war in Syria.

German champions Bayern Munich pledged the same amount of money to projects supporting the refugees pouring into Germany.

The club is working with Munich authorities to set up 'training camps' for children to receive German lessons, meals and football kits.

Crisis money: Real Madrid, who donated £730,000 to help the refugees 'taken in by Spain', are also considering measures to help the 'youngest refugees' (players L-R: Gareth Bale, Luca Modric, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo)

Support: German champions Bayern Munich (player Thomas Mueller pictured) pledged £730,000 to projects supporting the refugees pouring into Germany

Other German teams have also offered aid to the tens of thousands of migrants who have entered the country this year as growing numbers flee Syria and other crisis zones.

Meanwhile the IOC will give £1.3million in emergency funds to help ease the migrant crisis in Europe,its president Thomas Bach said Friday.

He added: 'We have all been touched by the terrible news and the heartbreaking stories in the past few days.

'With this terrible crisis unfolding across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, sport and the Olympic movement wanted to play its part in bringing humanitarian help to the refugees.'

'We know through experience that sport can ease the plight of refugees, many of them young people and children, be they in the Middle East, Africa, Europe or in other parts of the world.

'Because of the nature of the crisis the assessment of projects and the distribution of funds will be carried out extremely quickly,' Bach vowed.

Hungary reversed its hard-line stance after being 'overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of unwanted visitors'.

It sent dozens of double-decker buses to pick them up from the rain-soaked M1 motorway and take them to Austria's capital, Vienna, and also to Germany.

Once they have passed through shelters on the border, the migrants will be put onto a special half-hourly bus service to Vienna and Salzburg, according to Austrian Federal Railway.

Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said the plight of migrants stranded in Hungary, now being taken into his country, was a wake up call for Europe.

He said: 'This has to be an eye opener how messed up the situation in Europe is now. I hope that this serves as a wake up call that (the situation) cannot continue.'

Exhausted: Thousands began the 100-mile march (pictured) to the border overnight after Hungary cancelled international trains and demanded they report to processing centres

Waiting game: A migrants walks past bottled water as he waits for buses bound for Austria, where aid workers are waiting with food and hot tea at the border

Influx: Migrants arrive at the Austrian-Hungarian border station of Hegyeshalom, Hungary, after the country organised buses to take them across the border

On their way: Migrants carry their luggage and small children through a transit zone as they try to find a public bus to the Hungarian border

Transit: Local buses drive migrants from a transit zone to the Hungarian border village Hegyeshalom early this morning in Budapest

Rising tide: Hungary reversed its hard-line stance after being 'overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of unwanted visitors' and sent dozens of double-decker buses to take them to Austria

Soaked: Refugees arriving from Hungary walk under the rain at the border with Austria in Nickelsdorf, where thousands have boarded buses to the capital

Dawn move: Migrants who are entering Austria on foot walk towards the village of Nickelsdorf in early hours this morning

Resting: Migrants prepare to sleep by the side of the M1 motorway between Budapest and Vienna after marching from Keleti station towards the borde

Tired and hungry: Refugee Zami Elhuseyin, 9, sleeps besides the M1 motorway at night between Budapest and Vienna after marching from Keleti station towards the border

Tricked: Migrants sleep in Budapest's Keleti train station, after Hungary attempted to send migrants to a rural processing camp rather than to Germany by train

Update: A migrant checks his phone before sleeping besides the M1 motorway at night between Budapest and Vienna

Entry allowed: A policeman gestures as a bus of migrants arrives at the Hungarian-Austrian border (pictured)

European leaders are in talks to create an EU-wide 'border protection force' to deal with the refugee crisis, the Independent has reported.

Under the plans being discussed, the EU - not the member state - would be responsible for deporting 'economic migrants'.

The Commission will also create a list of so-called 'safe countries of origin' and migrants from these nations would be returned home because the EU considers them stable enough.

The list is expected to include all the Balkan States, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Senegal and a number of other African countries.

In many cases, the migrants and refugees arriving in Europe - some from the embattled nation of Syria - have spent months in Turkish refugee camps.

They have taken perilous journeys by boat, train and foot through Greece and the Balkans - and crawled under barbed wire on Hungary's southern border - to create a new life in Europe.

GERMANY OPENS ITS DOORS TO 'ANYONE SEEKING ASYLUM' AS THOUSANDS POUR IN

Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country will not stop anyone seeking asylum as thousands of migrants left Hungary and made their way westward towards Germany and Austria.

German officials recently predicted that up to 800,000 migrants would arrive by the end of the year, many of them refugees fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Iraq and Eritrea.

'The right to political asylum has no limits on the number of asylum seekers,' Ms Merkel said, 'As a strong, economically healthy country we have the strength to do what is necessary.'

But Ms Merkel repeated her government's position that migrants who do not meet the criteria for asylum need to be returned to their home countries.

Even prosperous Germany has struggled to meet the demand for additional housing for the tens of thousands of migrants arriving monthly.

Merkel said her government was not planning to raise taxes to pay for the additional cost. But her governing coalition will be meeting on Sunday to discuss how best to cope with the migrant influx.

All welcome: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) said her country will not stop anyone seeking asylum

An Iraqi holds a picture of the German Chancelor, Angel Merkel (pictured), during a demonstration in Tahrir square, central Baghdad

Ms Merkel said it was touching to see hundreds of migrants chanting 'Germany, Germany' at a railway station in Budapest earlier this week.

'This wasn't always the case, but I still have to insist on a fair distribution of the burden across all of Europe,' she was quoted as saying. Germany and some other European countries have called for the creation of special reception centres in Italy and Greece, where migrants can stay while their asylum requests are processed.

Ms Merkel said that would prevent the uncontrolled entry into Europe of people who might pose a security threat.

'Only this way can the security agencies check whether they have information about certain people,' she was quoted as saying.

Ms Merkel said she was confident Europe would meet the challenge, adding: 'This should be possible, because Europe is based on common values, and help for those in need of protection is one of them.'

Austria has offered newcomers asylum opportunities but most say they want to settle in Germany.

Hungarian authorities have refused to let migrants board trains to the west since Tuesday morning, compounding the build-up of migrants.

The migrants refused to go to processing centres - as demanded by the government - because they feared they would be deported or be detained in Hungary indefinitely.

Government officials said they changed course because Hungary's systems were becoming overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of unwanted visitors.

The chief of staff to Hungary's prime minister, Janos Lazar, said the 'surprise' mass migration was ruining rail services and causing massive traffic jams.

The migrants set out from Keleti railway station in Budapest after Hungarian authorities blocked them from boarding western-bound trains.

Departing: Migrants board a train in the village of Nickelsdorf, Hungary, in early hours to head to Salzburg on the German-Austrian border

Exodus: Saturday's pre-dawn move eases immediate pressure on Hungary, which has struggled to manage the flow of thousands of migrants arriving daily

Helping hand: Earlier today, thousands of migrants began marching towards Austria before the Hungarian government decided to send buses to pick them up

Heading off: A sign on the bus taking hundreds of migrants from Budapest (pictured) to the Austrian border reads: 'Not in service'

Flowing in: 'The streams [of people] keep coming,' said Helmut Marban, the chief of police in Burgenland, Austria

Crammed: Many of the migrants arriving in Austria and Germany today have made the perilously long journey from the Middle East and through central European countries like Macedonia (pictured)

Long journey: They board overcrowded trains from Macedonia to Serbia, and then crawl under barb wire to cross Hungary's southern border

Perils: Thousands of migrants are making the perilously long journey through central European nations like Serbia and Macedonia (pictured) to make it to Germany and Austria

In chaotic scenes overnight, thousands chanting 'Germany! Germany!' streamed down the main highway from Budapest to Vienna while others sprinted onto railway tracks in Bicske.

A 51-year-old Pakistani man collapsed around 800m from the station and died after he stumbled as he tried to flee riot police and hit his head on the tracks.

The extraordinary scenes prompted Austria and Germany to announce that they would let the refugees into the country after Hungary took the decision to provide buses for the exhausted migrants.

Today's pre-dawn move eases immediate pressure on Hungary which has struggled to manage the flow of thousands of migrants arriving daily from non-EU member Serbia.

Around 50,000 migrants entered Hungary last month via the western Balkans, with a record 3,300 arriving on Thursday, according to United Nations figures.

Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban sparked anger by saying his country did not want more Muslim migrants and warning that Europe would lose its Christian identity.

Poor camp conditions and slow registration procedures for asylum-seekers appear to have contributed to rising tensions at Hungary's refugee facilities.

Earlier Friday, about 300 people had broken through a fence at a Hungarian refugee camp and clashed with police, while another 300 escaped from a collection point for migrants intercepted at the border.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres warned the 28-member EU faced a 'defining moment' and called for the mandatory resettlement of 200,000 refugees by EU states.