EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY POLITICIANS German government to fight attacks on asylum seekers

Record ID: 144155

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY POLITICIANS German government to fight attacks on asylum seekers
  • Date: 13th August 2015
  • Summary: EISENHUETTENSTADT, GERMANY (AUGUST 13, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ASYLUM CENTRE TENT OUTSIDE CENTRE SUITCASES ON GROUND AND MIGRANTS STANDING OUTSIDE CENTRE MIGRANTS PLAYING CARDS HANDS HOLDING CARDS MIGRANTS PLAYING CARDS GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER THOMAS DE MAIZIERE ARRIVING AT CAMP WOMAN HOLDING BABY LOOKING DOWN FROM WINDOW DE MAIZIERE ARRIVING AT BUILDING DE MAIZIERE VISITING BUILDING BEDS IN EMPTY ROOM BATHROOM EXERCISE ROOM VARIOUS OF CENTRE CORRIDOR JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER THOMAS DE MAIZIERE, SAYING: "At the same time we also know that there is a growing number of attacks against asylum seeker institutions and asylum seekers, less so in Eisenhuettenstadt, but in other places. That is incomprehensible, unacceptable and undignified for our country. We will work against this with all the strength of the rule of law and political power that we have." TENT OUTSIDE CENTRE VARIOUS OF INSIDE OF TENT (SOUNDBITE) (German) ASYLUM SEEKER FROM PALESTINE, YUSEF OKASHA, SAYING: "We seek peace. And we thought that the conditions in Germany were better, but here in Eisenhuettenstadt is just as bad as in Syria. As you can see, are there no better places here in Germany? Why should the people always have to wait here for two or three months? I am now in a home for asylum seekers and people there are also staying in a sports hall and it is almost as bad as here." VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS OUTSIDE BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASYLUM SEEKER FROM SYRIA, AHMET SULILEIMAN, SAYING: "I am here because I want to commit my studying. There is another persons who have come here to work and to be able to help our families in Syria because the situation in Syria is very difficult. They can't find a work in that situation because as you know they have been in a big war. Seriously." UNDERWEAR HANGING OUTSIDE TENT TENTS OUTSIDE CENTRE
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA762FXR0361GRTMZFREL5UHOJC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Thursday (August 13) that the German government would do all it can to fight attacks on asylum centres after scenes of smouldering and burned out refugee centres have increased in the last months.
    Some 150 newly-erected shelters have been attacked, damaged or destroyed this year - often by arsonists bent on keeping refugees from being sheltered in new quarters in their towns. Swastikas were painted on one shelter that was burned out in Vorra.
    "[W]e also know that there is a growing number of attacks against asylum seeker institutions and asylum seekers, less so in Eisenhuettenstadt, but in other places. That is incomprehensible, unacceptable and undignified for our country. We will work against this with all the strength of the rule of law and political power that we have," de Maiziere told reporters during his visit to the centre.
    Germany has a long tradition of welcoming refugees, in part a response to its Third Reich past when 500,000 Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis fled. They found shelter in more than 80 countries. After World War Two, Germany took in some 13 million displaced persons and refugees fleeing west from Eastern Europe.
    Another 1.8 million ethnic Germans from Russia and Kazakhstan have moved to Germany since 1990 as well.
    The centre in Brandenburg currently hosts around 2,100 people in buildings, containers and about 400 tents, with large numbers of migrants lodging there from the Middle East.
    It is one of the many centres Germans have set up to handle the crush of refugees - twice as many as the 200,000 last year.
    But those who live there hope it is only a temporary solution.
    "We seek peace. And we thought that the conditions in Germany were better, but here in Eisenhuettenstadt is just as bad as in Syria. As you can see, are there no better places here in Germany? Why should the people always have to wait here for two or three months? I am now in a home for asylum seekers and people there are also staying in a sports hall and it is almost as bad as here," asylum seeker Yusef Okasha from Palestine told Reuters.
    "I am here because I want to commit my studying. There is another persons who have come here to work and to be able to help our families in Syria because the situation in Syria is very difficult. They can't find a work in that situation because as you know they have been in a big war. Seriously," another asylum seeker, Ahmet Sulileiman from Syria, added.
    A record 450,000 refugees fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia are expected to arrive in Germany this year, up from 200,000 in 2014, forcing the authorities and voluntary organisations to mount a large-scale humanitarian effort to feed and house them all.
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