migration
After protest against refugee accommodation: Appeal from district administrator
At a meeting against the establishment of refugee accommodation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, there are tumultuous scenes. photo
© Malte Behnk/Ostsee-Zeitung /dpa
A protest against the decision to build refugee accommodation in Mecklenburg leads to riots. The district council meeting must be protected by the police. Observers see right-wing extremists at work.
After the tumultuous protests against the construction of refugee accommodation in the Northwest Mecklenburg district, the district administrator there called on the federal government to act. “The federal government must finally recognize the situation of the municipalities,” said the CDU politician Tino Schomann on Friday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen” with a view to the situation with refugee accommodation. “The federal government must limit and control, must stop illegal migration and must finally start the deportation offensive in order to free up capacities.”
“We are running into a situation that society can no longer understand,” warned Schomann. He demanded: “We need the resources and we need the opportunities to implement this.”
120 police officers screened session
On Thursday evening, 700 people demonstrated against the planned construction during an extraordinary district council meeting in Grevesmühlen. Some tried to gain access to the non-public part of the session. 120 police officers shielded the session. At the meeting, the district council approved the construction of the container accommodation in the village of Upahl.
Accommodating 400 people in a community where 1,600 citizens lived – “that’s a relationship that doesn’t fit,” Schomann admitted. “But the situation is so explosive because we have no accommodation capacity and have already occupied sports halls since November (…).” He wasn’t offered any land – “all I hear is: no, no, no”.
The general manager of the Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, recently warned that many municipalities were “long since at their limit” when it came to accommodating refugees and displaced persons. In Germany, more people applied for asylum last year than at any time since 2016. 217,774 people made such a request for protection for the first time in Germany, almost 47 percent more than in the previous year. In addition, around one million war refugees from Ukraine were admitted to Germany in 2022 who did not have to apply for asylum.