The Hungarian riot police fired tear gas and water cannon on Wednesday at crowds of refugees and migrants desperate to cross the border from Serbia. Others carved out a new route and headed for Croatia.

Tensions boiled over at the flashpoint Horgos-Roszke crossing, where hundreds of furious people tore down the wire meshing separating them from Hungarian territory, and police clashed for hours with migrants, some of whom threw stones, sticks and plastic bottles.

The unrest left 14 Hungarian police officers injured, authorities said.

Serbia lodged a formal protest with Hungary over the use of tear gas on its territory, and interior minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said police reinforcements were being sent to the Serbian side of the border to help calm tensions.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked" by Budapest's actions, as hundreds of people fleeing war and misery, many of them Syrians,, remained stranded at Hungary's newly fenced-off border.

"We want to leave! We want to leave to Germany!" cried one French-speaking man at a migrants' protest at the border through a megaphone.

Crowds who managed to overrun police lines and break through the fence in the Hungarian town of Roszke did not take advantage to run deeper into the central European country's territory however, apparently wanting instead to show their frustration after Budapest sealed the border on Tuesday, an AFP correspondent said.

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