Hungary has brought in tough new laws to stop the entry of illegal migrants.

Police can now detain anyone who tries to breach a razor-wire fence built on the border with Serbia.

Hungary has become a key point on the journey north for thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

The EU has agreed to relocate 40,000 migrants from Greece and Italy to other EU states, starting on Tuesday. But it failed to agree on mandatory quotas for a further 120,000 asylum seekers.

Instead, at the meeting in Brussels, a majority of ministers agreed "in principle" and negotiations will now take place ahead of another meeting in October.

The new Hungarian laws came into effect at midnight (22:00 GMT Monday).

Police sealed a railway crossing point that had been used by tens of thousands of migrants, and many slept out in the open on the Serbian side of the border.

Police buses will now take asylum applicants to registration centres, but if their applications are refused they will now be returned to Serbia rather than being given passage through Hungary, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports from the border.

Hungarian authorities said more than 9,000 - a new record - crossed into the country before the border was closed on Monday.

From now on anyone who crosses the border illegally will face criminal charges, and 30 judges have been put on standby to try potential offenders.

The laws also make it a criminal offence - punishable by prison or deportation - to damage the newly-built four-metre (13ft) fence along Hungary's 175km (110 mile) border with Serbia.

Mounted police have been deployed along the border.

"We will start a new era," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said shortly after midnight. "We will stop the inflow of illegal migrants over our green borders."

But he added: "That also means that the official and legal ways to come to Hungary and therefore to the European Union remain open. That's all we ask from all migrants - that they should comply with international and European law."

'No consensus'

At the Brussels talks, Luxembourg, which holds the EU presidency, said it was hoped that the relocation proposal could be made law at a meeting on 8 October.

Under complex EU rules, a unanimous vote is not required and decisions can be made with a qualified majority.

However, correspondents say that would be a show of disunity that the EU is trying to avoid.

Mr Asselborn said a list of safe countries, to which failed asylum seekers can be returned, had been agreed on principle.