The Latest: Germany could extend border checks again

MARIANOSZTRA, Hungary – The Latest on Europe’s response to the influx of refugees and other migrants (all times local):

7:05 p.m.

Germany’s top security official says the country could extend border checks beyond the middle of November in an effort to prevent migrants from crossing into the country unnoticed.

Thomas de Maiziere says a return to the unrestricted movement between countries that are members of Europe’s passport-free travel area known as the Schengen Zone is desirable.

But he told reporters at a meeting in Bavaria on Wednesday that he favours continuing the border checks when the measure is due to expire in mid-November.

They were last extended for six months in May.

Bavaria has been the main point of entry for hundreds of thousands of migrants coming to Germany since early 2015.

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6:30 p.m.

French police have used tear gas to force hundreds of migrants away from a road leading to a port town that is seen as a gateway to Britain.

Authorities said about 300 migrants from a makeshift camp known as “the Jungle” approached the road to Calais on Wednesday afternoon and dozens tried to enter the thoroughfare.

Local officials in the northern Pas-de-Calais region say migrants hurled objects at police officers, who then used tear gas to push them back. A police officer received minor injuries and one person was arrested.

The clash came as workers have begun building a Britain-funded wall along the road to try to keep migrants from sneaking onto ferries crossing the English Channel.

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5:10 p.m.

Romanian border police have detained eight migrants, including four children, after they crossed the River Danube and tried to enter Romania.

Police said in a statement they found the group of six Iraqis and two Syrians near the Bistret border point in southwest Romania on Tuesday evening during a river patrol.

Wednesday’s statement said the group, aged 4-33, crossed the Danube in two boats that a Bulgarian guide had given them. The river forms the border between Bulgaria and Romania.

The group told police they had paid between $2,000 and $3,500 to guides and were trying to reach Austria.

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1:30 p.m.

Hungarian prison inmates have ramped up their production of razor wire, working around the clock as Hungary prepares to build a second fence on the border with Serbia to keep out refugees and other migrants.

Razor wire manufacture at the prison in Marianosztra, northern Hungary, has increased from two shifts earlier this year, to three. Besides its domestic use, Hungary has also sold or donated fence elements, including wire and steel posts, to other countries in the region, including Slovenia and Macedonia.

Human rights organizations, meanwhile, consider Hungary’s fences erected last year as the first step in efforts by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government to dismantle the country’s asylum system.

Hungary’s Helsinki Committee says the fence, the closure of asylum centres and other measures are destroying the asylum system.