... as hardline Austria stages border drills

AUSTRIA staged large- scale training drills yesterday to underline its tough new approach to migration.

More than 500 policemen, 200 cadets, 220 soldiers and five military helicopters, including two Black Hawks, took part.

The operation took place in Spielfeld on the Slovenian border. The village was a focal point of the 2015 ‘Balkan route’ which saw several thousand migrants cross into Austria.

Right-wing Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said: ‘I am determined events like those of 2015 must not occur again.’