Police said about 200 people at the port of Rodby in Lolland have refused to leave two trains or be taken to Danish reception centres, asking instead to continue to Sweden where they have family or friends.

Danish officials said hundreds of migrants arrive in Denmark in the hopes of getting to Sweden, which is widely considered the country most open to refugees.

Austria’s national railway company, Osterreichische Bundesbahnen, said Thursday it has suspended train traffic to and from Hungary until further notice due to the massive congestion created by the influx of migrants and that no tickets are being sold. He says migrants who try to enter Europe without having their applications dealt with elsewhere should be sent back.

Refugees have been streaming in by two routes from Germany, crossing by train overland into Jutland or by ferries carrying trains that arrive in Lolland, an island linked by bridges to Zealand, where Copenhagen is located. “The restrictive policies on asylum and refugee issues have sparked a mobilization among the country’s civil society”.

Rodby is the point where train ferries arrive in Denmark from Germany.

The former government introduced a new article to the law saying that some people, a few people from Syria, a tiny little group, who are not in troubles individually, have to wait one year before they can reunite with their family in Denmark.

“They have done a great piece of police work, in which we abide by our global responsibilities – and we are doing it in a Danish way”.

Denmark launched a huge campaign to stop the entry of refugees in the country, placing advertisements in Arabic newspapers aimed at deterring potential migrants.

It targets Lebanon because it’s home to one of the largest Syria refugee communities – some 1.4 million people.

Mr Harper said Europe, the Gulf states and others “sought the cheap option, which was to provide us with peanuts in order to deal with the worst humanitarian situation for decades”. Sweden will issue permanent residency to all Syrian asylum seekers. In Hungary, police said they detained a record 3,321 refugees on Wednesday and the interior ministry indicated it may declare a state of crisis next week.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen reiterated that refugees arriving in Denmark should seek asylum there.

“The strong anti-refugee stance of Denmark is not a surprise, given the new government that is in place since June”, said Astrid Ziebarth, a migration fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a political think tank.

At least 7,000 people, including many parents lugging young children, braved downpours and muddy fields Thursday to cross Greece’s northern border into Macedonia.