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Illegal immigrants surge toward Hungary chanting 'open the borders'

Some 150 migrants marched toward the Hungarian border about 120 miles north of the Serbian capital Belgrade

Several hundred migrants have staged a protest in Belgrade demanding that Hungary open its border, it has been reported today.

The AP news agency said that police intervened Tuesday morning after protesters clashed with other groups of migrants who were against the demonstration.

Some 150 of them later marched toward the Hungarian border about 120 miles north of the Serbian capital.

They chanted "Open Hungary Borders" and carried banners saying "we don't need food, water or nothing, we want you to open the borders." There were no reported injuries during the scuffles.

There are some 6,000 migrants stuck in Serbia after Hungary this summer introduced strict limits to their crossing into the EU-member country and reinforced its fence with heavy border patrols. The so-called Balkan migrant route formally closed in March, forcing migrants to use alternative routes.

Romanian border police are also investigating 16 Iraqi citizens, including six children, they found in two boats on the Danube River for illegally crossing the Romanian border.

Border police said they spotted the group of eight men, two women and six children, early Tuesday in southern Romania close to the shore. The Danube forms the border between Romania and Bulgaria and extends into Hungary.

The migrants told police they had traveled through Turkey and then into Bulgaria and wanted to reach Germany. They said each family had paid 35,000 euros.