Austria, a peaceful country in central Europe, is getting a large dose of shock treatment coming from the thousands of refugees from Syria passing by the mountainous country best known for being the locale in the epic movie "The Sound of Music."
But the hills are not alive with the sound of music in this alpine country nowadays. Instead, some of the hills and grounds of Austria are filled with an "an orgy of garbage and feces of unparalleled dimensions" left behind by the refugees who passed by the small town of Nickelsdort on their way to Germany, according to WND.com.
The horde of Muslim refugees not only left their dirt in Austria but treated the country's Christian residents with vileness as well. "We were continuously berated as Christian whores" by the passing Muslim migrants, one female volunteer told the German website Unzen Suriert on Oct. 10.
Another resident who saw the departing horde of migrants said it felt "like at the end of [World War II], back when the Wehrmacht surrendered the area east of Bruck on the Leitha to the Red Army and we were left completely defenceless at the mercy of the marauding Russians."
Austria is keeping a tight rein on the influx of migrants just like its neighbour Hungary which closed its borders last weekend.
The migrants are continuing to flood Europe. On Monday, more than 8,000 arrived by sea in Greece, according to Reuters. They were in a rush to beat the onset of freezing winter, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said more than 27,000 migrants remained in transit on Greek islands near Turkey, seeking to cross into northern Europe despite the possibility of border closure.
So far this year, more than 643,000 refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, the UNHCR said in a statement. At least 3,135 have died en route, the agency added.
The migrants are being encouraged to move to Europe by human smugglers who offer "discount rates" for some passengers leaving Turkey, Reuters said.
These people are then packed like sardines in a boat, making their journey even more dangerous, a UNHCR official said.
Despite the difficulties, thousands of migrants continued to stream north through the Balkans from Greece. Hungary closed its border with Croatia on Friday and Slovenia imposed daily limits on migrants entering from Croatia, holding up thousands on cold, rain-drenched grounds.
The migrants appeared determined to settle in Europe no matter what happens. "I left my pregnant wife in Syria," said Mohammed Habian, a 22-year-old Syrian from the devastated city of Homs on entering Serbia from Macedonia. "There is nothing that can stop us reaching freedom," Reuters quoted him as saying.
"Open the gate, open the gate!" the migrants shouted at the line of Croatian police who were guarding an improvised fence to restrict the flow of migrants.
