Hundreds of migrants have protested for a second day at Hungary’s decision to prevent them from travelling on towards Germany and other EU countries.
They are among 2,000 people camped at Budapest’s Keleti train station, having bought tickets for onward journeys.
Meanwhile, more than 4,000 migrants arrived in mainland Greece from the island of Lesbos overnight.
The EU is struggling to agree a common policy across member states for dealing with the crisis.
The BBC’s Chris Morris in Brussels says the European Commission, the executive of the EU, is trying to draw up a list of safe countries of origin that failed asylum applicants can be sent back to.
And an EC spokeswoman said today it was preparing proposals for a mechanism to automatically redistribute a proportion of those seeking asylum among EU states.
Italy and Greece have complained that they are overwhelmed by the numbers arriving on their shores.
About 2,000 migrants camped overnight at Keleti station in east Budapest, having been prevented from boarding trains on Tuesday.
They had bought tickets after Hungary appeared to abandon efforts on Monday to register migrants, allowing huge numbers to board trains to Vienna and southern Germany.
Hundreds of migrants again protested on Wednesday, chanting “Freedom, freedom” and waving train tickets.
Journalists at the scene said tensions were high with migrants involved in a stand-off with riot police.
A confrontation also broke out an another railway station in Budapest where a group of migrants occupied a platform after refusing to board a train sending them to a reception centre in the eastern city of Debrecen.
Police quoted by Hungarian TV said the “illegal immigrants” held their children aloft and demanded they be allowed to proceed freely to Germany.
The number of migrants entering Europe has reached record levels, with 10, 500 arriving in July alone.
Germany expects to take in 800,000 migrants this year – four times last year’s total.
The risks for migrants travelling through Europe were highlighted last week by the deaths of 71 people found in a lorry that had travelled to Austria from Budapest.
EU interior and justice ministers will meet in Brussels on 14 September to address the crisis.
Posted by Janice Johnson
