By David Maurice Smith
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Hungary-Austria border: It was with great trepidation that the hundreds of refugees walking from Keleti railway station in Budapest, Hungary, boarded the fleets of buses that met them a day into their walk to Austria and a step closer to a new life in western Europe.
Most had walked for 10 hours on the main highway out of Budapest before getting on the bus.
They had lost all trust in the Hungarian government and police force after being caught in limbo within its borders.
Earlier on Friday a small gathering at Keleti station had mushroomed into a human wave of more than 1000 people on foot surging towards the border.
There was no clear understanding of where the buses were going. When asked, most migrants initially said "Austria".
However, when pressed about the origins of this information, they were not sure. They had heard this only from other refugees.
On Friday, a train full of refugees left Keleti only to be met at the next station by scores of police with riot gear whose intention was to take them to camps. The move caused a global outrage. The word spread quickly and the refugees on this bus feared that might also be their destination.
Why would they get on board if they were not sure where it was taking them?
The real question is what else could they do. Many have been on the run for months, fleeing violence and the deaths of their loved ones. They are taking a chance because it is the only thing left that they can do.
Aside from the generosity of Hungarians who offered support in the form of food, water and clothing, there has been no concrete Hungarian response to the migrants' plight. There is nothing here for them.
Looking around it is like a tattered version of the United Nations: exhausted people from Somalia, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq carrying their worldly possessions in plastic bags. Small children sleep on the floor; men rest their heads on each others' shoulders.
The bus was dead silent except for the sounds of the wheels on the wet pavement outside.
Soon we were stopped and made to transfer to another bus, then stopped again.
Rumours about diplomatic issues between Hungary and others started growing, along with the stress levels.