KANJIZA, Serbia — It was a journey across deserts, seas and continents, and now, a few dozen yards away, the goal was in sight: the European Union.
Adnan and his fellow Syrian migrants weren’t about to let a razor fence — under frantic construction by Hungary — get in their way.
At dusk, the column of exhausted men, women and children crept inside a corn field in northern Serbia on the border with Hungary. They were hoping to take their final few steps to what they believe to be freedom in the EU. There was a palpable sense of urgency to elude border police and make a successful frontier crossing, before the Hungarians finished the 100-mile fence by the end of the month.
Serbia’s border with EU-member Hungary has become a major crossing point for tens of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who are using the so-called Balkan route to enter the EU, while fleeing poverty or war in their home countries. Hungary, beleaguered by the influx and facing a right-wing backlash, has been rushing to build the fence both as a physical barrier and a symbol of toughness for its increasingly anti-foreigner population.
