by Donald Wood
Last updated: 4:56 PM ET, Wed September 9, 2015
Photo via Twitter/JamesEReynolds
Danish police shut down train service between Germany and Denmark Wednesday, when about 100 migrants refused to leave a train.
Reported by Jan M. Olsen of The Associated Press, the migrants arrived in Roedby, Denmark from Germany, and didn't want to leave the train so they would not have to register in Denmark, according to police spokesperson Anne Soe.
European Union rules state that refugees seeking asylum must do so in the first country they enter, and they are not permitted to travel from one country to another. Soe told the AP about the migrants on the train, saying, "We are talking to them and trying to convince them to come out. Things are nice and calm. But of course some people are (a) bit tense."
In addition to closing the railways, Danish police have also shut down a highway on the Jutland peninsula after another 300 migrants crossed the border on foot. The refugees making these illegal trips into other countries are trying to seek asylum in Sweden, Norway or Finland, where conditions are perceived to be better.
Officials in Denmark reached out to the Swedish government and asked about the possibility of making an exception for the migrants who don't want to stay in the country.
But Fredrik Beijerlegal, director of the Swedish Migration Agency, told The AP that there was no way to circumvent European Union rules.
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