Clashes at a migrants’ camp near the central German city of Kassel on Sunday left 14 people injured, the DPA news agency reported. The clashes erupted in the suburbs of the city, at a camp made up of tents which house around 1,500 migrants hailing from around 20 different countries, and lasted “several hours”, DPA quoted the police as saying. Three policemen were among the injured, the German news agency said. A fight first broke out at around mid-day during mealtime between two refugees, and later involved two large groups of Albanian and Pakistani migrants, according to DPA. In the evening, a third clash erupted, pitting a group of around 70 migrants against another group of about 300. Police eventually restored order after several hours, but made no arrests.
Author: AFP
Hungarian Parliament Grants Army Right To Use Force Against Migrants
Hungary’s parliament gave Monday the army and police sweeping new powers to keep migrants out as populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that Europe was being “overrun”. “They are overrunning us. They’re not just banging on the door, they’re breaking the door down on top of us,” the right-wing Orban told lawmakers. “Our borders are in danger, our way of life built on respect for the law, Hungary and the whole of Europe is in danger,” the 52-year-old said in Budapest. “Europe hasn’t just left its doors open but has sent open invitation… Europe is rich but weak, this is the worst combination, Europe needs to be stronger to defend its borders.” The new legislation, passed with a two-thirds majority, allows the army to take part in border controls, to restrict personal liberties and to use weapons as long as no loss of life ensues. Coming a week after illegal border-crossing became a crime punishable by up to five years in jail, soldiers can now also check ID papers and detain suspected illegal migrants. The police meanwhile will be able to enter private homes for the purpose of carrying out search for migrants who entered the country illegally, amongst other
US Sends Guantanamo Inmate Back to Morocco
Washington (AFP) – The United States announced Thursday it has repatriated a Moroccan prisoner who spent 13 years at Guantanamo Bay, as part of a long-running effort to close the military prison in Cuba.
Croatia Offers Free Passage To Migrants, Hundreds Pour In
Zagreb (AFP) – Croatia will allow free passage of migrants across its territory, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said yesterday as hundreds have entered the EU member state from Serbia since Hungary sealed its borders. “We are ready to accept and direct those people… to where they apparently wish to go,” Milanovic told lawmakers during a regular parliament session said, referring to Germany and Scandinavia. He also said the migrants’ “religion and skin colour is completely irrelevant.” While a first group of Middle Eastern refugees entered Croatia from Serbia, its neighbour to the east, early Wednesday, a total of 892 them had crossed into the country by 1700 GMT, according to the interior ministry. The arrivals were continuing on Wednesday evening, local media reported. So far 360 migrants have been sent to the main reception centre in Jezevo, near Zagreb while preparations to set up other registration and accommodation facilities were under way, the ministry said. Milanovic had strong words for Hungary’s decision to build a fence on the Serbian borders to keep migrants away, noting that the migrants only wished to pass through Hungary. “I don’t approve of the (migrant) policy of Budapest, I consider it harmful and dangerous,” he
Migrants Lash Out At Hungarian Police After Budapest Seals Border
“I hate you, Hungary! Thank you, Serbia,” said one Iraqi migrant, Hussan, clutching a stone as he rushed to attack the Hungarian police on the border with Serbia. It was his way of taking revenge after Budapest’s decision to close its frontier to migrants hoping to cross through the country en route to wealthier western European states such as Germany. “Yalla!” (Let’s go!), young migrants shouted to encourage each other, throwing pieces of asphalt at police at the border before moving into Hungarian territory despite the acrid smell of tear gas. But choked by the gas, with red eyes streaming, they immediately retreated to recover their strength before continuing the assault. After more than an hour of clashes Wednesday, dozens of migrants managed in the early evening to overwhelm the Hungarian riot police and enter Hungarian territory from Serbia. They managed to tear down the fence erected across the two access roads to Hungary and then advanced, ready to do battle with the police who fell back about 50 metres (yards) and responded by throwing tear gas grenades. For its part, the Hungarian government reported 14 police injured “in clashes with migrants” without giving further details. A Serbian source spoke
Hungary Plans ANOTHER Anti-Migrant Fence, This Time Along Romania Border
Hungary plans to build a fence to keep migrants out along part of its border with Romania in addition to the barrier being erected along the frontier with Serbia, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Tuesday. “The government has decided to make preparations for the construction of a fence on the Hungary-Romania border, extending from the border triangle of Hungary, Serbia and Romania, for a reasonable distance,” Szijjarto told a press conference in Budapest. “The measure is necessary as people-smugglers may change their routes because of the existing fence on the Hungary-Serbia border, hence a part of the immigration pressure may get directed towards Romania,” he said, according to state news agency MTI. Hungary is a member of the European Union (EU) and the passport-free Schengen zone. Romania is in the EU but not in Schengen, while Serbia is in neither. Hungarian authorities on Tuesday effectively sealed the border with Serbia,
Croatia Fears “Spillover” After Hungary Shuts Border
Croatia is likely to see a large influx of migrants after Hungary sealed its border with Serbia, an official said Tuesday, amid warnings of wartime land mines remaining in the region. “It is a system of spilling over … if they (migrants) cannot go somewhere, there is a realistic possibility that they will head in our direction,” Zlatko Sokolar, head of the interior ministry’s border administration, told state-run HRT radio. So far, however, the situation on the 325-kilometre (200-mile) border with Serbia — more than half of which is along the River Danube — is calm, with no recorded attempts to cross the border illegally, he added. The former Yugoslav republic, now an EU member state, has some 6,000 border police deployed. Croatia’s border with Serbia lies some 100 kilometres west of the capital Belgrade across flat terrain that is relatively easy to traverse. But local media warned of the
Mugabe Accidentally Delivers Old Speech During Opening Session of Zimbabwe Parliament
Zimbabwe’s 91-year-old President Robert Mugabe read the wrong speech at the opening of a new session of parliament on Tuesday, repeating an address he gave to the legislature last month. The veteran leader read the 25-minute-long speech through to the end, apparently unaware that he was delivering the same text he presented during his state of the nation address last month. “There has been a mix-up of speeches resulting in a situation where… the president delivered the wrong speech,” said presidential spokesman George Charamba. “The mix-up happened in his secretarial office,” Charamba was quoted as saying in the state-owned Herald newspaper’s online edition. “The error is sincerely regretted and corrective measures are being considered.” Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader, earlier this year fell down the steps leading from a podium. He was unhurt, but video of the fall went viral on social media. The opening of parliament was also tarnished by
Hungary Seals Border, Detains Thousands, Threatens To Imprison Illegals
Hungary effectively sealed its border with Serbia on Tuesday to stem the massive influx of refugees, as EU ministers failed in an emergency meeting to agree on sharing the migrants around the bloc. Budapest’s move came after Austria and Slovakian authorities followed Germany’s lead in reimposing border controls, a further blow to Europe’s cherished passport-free Schengen Zone as the continent grapples with one of its biggest migration crises since 1945. On Monday afternoon, Hungarian police had closed the main unofficial crossing point — a 40-metre (-yard) gap in a razorwire barrier for train tracks — and directed migrants to a nearby official crossing point. But on Tuesday morning, an AFP correspondent said that this official entry point was also closed, leaving several hundred migrants queueing with no apparent hope of entering the EU member state. “The border was shut and has yet to re-open,” said UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch from
Germany To See Seismic Shifts Over Record Refugee Influx: Analysts
Berlin (AFP) – This year’s record refugee influx will bring sweeping social, demographic and economic change to Germany, which was long uncomfortable about being known as a country of migrants, analysts say. Europe’s top economy is expecting to welcome 800,000 asylum seekers this year, almost double the previous high in 1992, when it took in 438,000 refugees from the war-torn former Yugoslavia. And for the next few years, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has predicted, Germany could take in 500,000 more annually. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that “what we are experiencing now is something that we will be dealing with for years and which will change our country in coming years”. Meinhard Miegel, a social science researcher, said it was “difficult to predict if the process will be a boon or a bane.” But it was certain that Germans who “want to cling on to the world they are used