Austria to End Measures Letting Refugees Pass Through Freely

Austria said Sunday it plans to end emergency measures that opened its borders — closing off one of the main routes for thousands of refugees and migrants stranded in Hungary.

Austria had suspended its random border checks after photographs of a Syrian toddler lying dead on a Turkish beach showed Europeans the horror faced by those desperate enough to travel illegally into the heart of Europe, which is deeply divided over how to cope.

After 71 people suffocated in the back of a truck abandoned on an Austrian highway en route from Hungary — and as thousands of people headed from Budapest toward Austria on foot — Vienna had agreed with Germany to waive rules requiring refugees to register an asylum claim in the first E.U. country they reach.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said that decision was being revised following "intensive talks" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a telephone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is bitterly opposed to the waiver.

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