DHAKA: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that his country does not want to take in large numbers of Muslims, in defense of Hungary’s response to the surge in refugees trying to enter the country.

‘I think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large number of Muslim people in our country,’ Orban reportedly told journalists outside the EU headquarters at Brussels, reports Al Jazeera.

‘We do not like the consequences,’ he said, referring to the country’s 150-year history of Ottoman rule during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Orban said those fleeing conflict in countries such as Syria should not try to cross into Hungary, as he defended the country’s decision to erect a fence along its border.

‘Please don’t come ... It’s risky to come. We can’t guarantee that you will be accepted,’ Orban said in Brussels, adding that it would not be humane or morally right to ‘falsify’ people’s dreams.

‘We Hungarians are full of fear, people in Europe are full of fear because they see that the European leaders, among them the prime ministers, are not able to control the situation,’ Orban said.

His comments came as refugees who boarded a train bound for the Austrian border clashed with Hungarian police as they were forcefully unloaded and taken to a refugee camp.

BDST: 1311 HRS, SEPT 04, 2015
RR