German county declares refugee emergency

[Lite Beer]

German county declares refugee emergency

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The latest developments as hundreds of thousands of people seeking safety make an epic trek through Europe. All times local.

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8:45 p.m.

A German county has declared an emergency ahead of the arrival of some 1,000 refugees on Monday.

Officials in Main-Taunus county west of Frankfurt say the unusual action aims to make it easier for authorities to cope with the influx, for example by suspending certain building regulations.

In a statement Friday, they said it was the first time since 1945 that a disaster has been declared in the country.

Germany has seen almost 600,000 migrants arrive since the start of the year, including many refugees from conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan

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7:50 p.m.

The Czech Republic is putting 650 soldiers on alert to be ready to help police deal with a possible influx of migrants.

Defense Ministry spokesman Petr Medek says the soldiers are ready to join police forces on the border with Austria in two hours. The announcement came after police said they were sharply increasing policing on the Austrian border, with the number of officers rising from 220 to 720.

The Czechs say they aren't restoring border controls, at least for now. Czech territory so far has rarely been used by the tens of thousands of refugees heading to Germany and other countries in Western Europe.

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6:05 p.m.

The U.N. Security Council has adopted a resolution to authorize the European Union and individual countries to seize migrant-smuggling vessels on the high seas off Libya.

The resolution is under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which means it can be militarily enforced. It also authorizes the EU and individual nations to board vessels "with a view to saving the threatened lives of migrants or of victims of human trafficking." The search-and-seizure operation is authorized for one year.

The resolution says migrants "should be treated with humanity and dignity." Council diplomats say migrants on vessels that are seized would be taken to Italy.

The EU initially wanted a naval operation that could operate in Libyan territorial waters but Libya objected.

The International Organization for Migration says 2,987 migrants have died so far in 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea.

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4:30 p.m.

Sweden's prime minister says preliminary estimates indicate more than 150,000 asylum seekers will arrive in the country this year.

Stefan Lofven said Friday nearly 9,000 people have sought asylum in Sweden in the past seven days alone and the country is preparing for a crisis situation.

The government has ordered the Swedish Migration Agency to set up tents to provide temporary accommodation and has tasked local authorities with drawing up an inventory of all premises in the country that can be used as shelters.

He cautioned that it will take longer for authorities to process asylum applications.

Lofven said the government will inform about the cost of housing the arrivals after the migration agency delivers a more precise estimate of the number of arrivals, in a couple of weeks.

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4:25 p.m.

The southern state of Bavaria is calling on the German government to turn refugees back at the country's border if it can't get other European Union countries to abide by rules that mean newcomers are supposed to be processed in the first EU country where they arrive.

Governor Horst Seehofer and his conservative government have been the most prominent domestic critics of Chancellor Angela Merkel's welcoming approach to refugees.

Most migrants to Germany arrive in Bavaria. Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann urged the federal government Friday to send a clear signal "that Germany has reached the limits of its capacity." He noted that Germany is surrounded by "safe countries."

He said that if Berlin doesn't take effective measures soon to limit the influx, Bavaria reserves the right to lodge a complaint with Germany's highest court.

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4:20 p.m.

Germany's interior minister says his office has recorded more than 490 attacks — ranging from arson to racist graffiti — on refugee shelters this year.

Thomas de Maiziere said in an interview published Friday that the number represents "a massive increase of xenophobic attacks against asylum-seekers."

De Maiziere told Berlin's Morgenpost newspaper that two-thirds of suspects were people who lived near the shelters and had no previous criminal record.

His comments came as police in the western city of Hagen said they detained two men aged 23 and 25 on suspicion of carrying out an arson attack against a house used by refugees in the nearby town of Altena.

Hagen police said one of the unnamed men acknowledged being angry at the housing of refugees in his neighborhood.

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3:50 p.m.

Croatia's defense minister says plenty of individuals and even some state businesses are profiting from the surge of migrants through the Balkans.

Minister Ante Kotromanovic, speaking Friday while visiting a migrant camp in eastern Croatia, said the exodus of Syrians and other people fleeing war and poverty is "a big business, which is organized."

He says "up to our border, someone is profiting big."

He did not elaborate, but Croatian officials have alleged that migrants in Serbia have paid unreasonably high prices to taxi drivers and state bus companies to be driven to the Croatian border, from where they head to Hungary and onto Western Europe.

Croatian police say nearly 137,000 migrants have crossed from Serbia since mid-September, including 7,798 on Thursday.

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3:35 p.m.

Turkey says it is concerned about a possible new refugee influx from Syria due to Russia's military campaign there.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic told reporters on Friday however, that Turkey was taking the "necessary precautions" to deal with the possible influx.

Turkey is currently hosting 2.2 million refugees from Syria and 300,000 Iraqis, making it the world's biggest refugee host.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey has so far spent $7.8 billion hosting the refugees.

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1:45 p.m.

Hungary's president has warned that solidarity with refugees escaping war must not overshadow concerns about human trafficking and the threat from extremists in relation to the migrant crisis.

Janos Ader said Friday that while "the humanitarian aspects are very important, especially with the coming winter ... we would be making a big political mistake if we neglect the criminal and national security aspects of this migration wave."

Ader spoke in the resort town of Balatonfured during a meeting of the so-called Visegrad Group, which also includes Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and also attended by the president of Croatia.

Polish President Andrzej Duda emphasized that the European Union's plan to distribute 120,000 refugees on a per-country quota was "not an effective solution" to the migrant crisis and that the large number of migrants reaching Croatia, Hungary, Italy or Greece was "a problem of the whole European Union and that is how this issue should be approached."

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12:50 p.m.

The International Organization for Migration says it has seen a sharp increase in the number of people landing on Greece's eastern islands over the past week, with around 7,000 people arriving every day.

The IOM said in Geneva on Friday that the increase may be due to migrants' expectations that weather conditions will soon worsen. The group said its staff were seeing around 4,500 arrivals per day at the end of September and the figure was as low as 2,711 on Oct. 1.

It says that congestion on the island of Lesbos, a main point of arrival for refugees and other migrants making the sea crossing from Turkey to EU member Greece, has declined despite the increase in newcomers.

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12:05 p.m.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says the influx of migrants is "the greatest humanitarian effort in Swedish history."

Lofven says his country was preparing itself for a crisis situation, adding tent camps could be erected in camping sites to house the refugees.

At a joint news conference Friday, Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said Sweden had reached "a very dramatic stage" and had so far received more than 115,000 applications this year.

In the past week, Sweden has counted 8,899 asylum-seekers, including 1,609 just on Thursday.

___

11:45 a.m.

The Czech Republic is sharply increasing policing of the border with Austria to be able to deal with a possible influx of migrants.

After the Czechs beefed up security on the Austrian-Czech border on Sept. 13 in response to Germany's decision to restore border controls, they had been mounting random controls at 14 border crossings.

The Interior Minister announced Thursday such measures will be done on 20 crossings, starting Saturday.

On Friday, police said the number of officers on the border will be increased from 200 to 720 Saturday and will be present also along the Austrian border.

Police says the Czechs aren't restoring border controls, at least for now. Czech territory so far has rarely been used by the migrants on their way to Germany and other rich Western countries.

___

10 a.m.

An Italian police aircraft carrying 19 Eritreans has taken off from Rome's Ciampino airport bringing the first refugees to Sweden under the European Union's new resettlement program aimed at redistributing asylum-seekers from hard-hit receiving countries.

The aircraft carrying the refugees was bound for Kallax Airport in Lulea, in the far north of Sweden.

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who was on hand to bid the Eritreans farewell, has said the transfer is proof that Europe has finally changed its migration policy.

Italy for years has demanded Europe shoulder more of the burden of the continent's refugee crisis. Even though most migrants prefer to pass through Italy en route to destinations further north, Alfano has been keen to show off the first flight to try to quiet anti-immigrant critics at home.

___

9:40 a.m.

Greece's coast guard says it has rescued 542 people in 12 search and rescue incidents from Thursday morning to Friday morning.

The rescues occurred off the coasts of the eastern Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Agathonissi and Farmakonissi, the coast guard said.

Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in their homelands have reached Greece so far this year, the vast majority on rickety boats or cheap inflatable dinghies from the nearby Turkish coast. Although a short sea journey, it can be fatal as the unseaworthy and overloaded boats sometimes sink.

Very few of those arriving in Greece want to stay in the financially stricken country, instead moving north through the Balkans to more prosperous European Union countries such as Germany, Austria and Sweden.

___

9:30 a.m.

Greece's coast guard says a wooden boat carrying a large number of refugees or other migrants has run aground on the small eastern Aegean island of Leros, while an infant died after the inflatable dinghy he was in partially sank off the coast of Lesbos island.

The wooden boat, carrying about 100 people, ran aground Friday on the northeast coast of Leros, the coast guard said. Those on board were being taken to shore by coast guard and private vessels that arrived to help.

In the Lesbos incident, the coast guard rescued 56 people from the sea Thursday night after the rear part of their dinghy burst, partially sinking the boat. A 1-year-old boy was recovered unconscious and transported to a hospital, but rescuers were unable to revive him.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-10-09

[OMGImInPattaya]

Just give them bus tickets to Berlin and a map to Merkel's Chancery and let her house them there.

[baboon]

Emergency? Crisis? But the party is just getting started, this is nothing yet...

[ezzra]

And this is only the beginning, the first step of the grand scheme of Europe Islamisation...

[Usernames]

Look for a slight rearrangement and alteration of spelling in the next headline: Country of Germany Declares Refugee Emergency.

[razer]

OK ...

We have been told the boat fare to Europe is about €1,600.

People smuggler fees to the point of departure € Unknown

Some taking taxis to the border got to be a minimum of €400 but I suspect closer to €1,000 because the driver has to drive back

Guestimate cost of say Afghani to get to Germany € 4,500 - €5,000

Now I have a problem with calling these people economic migrants.

If they are indeed, poor, then somebody is paying the bill.

[NeverSure]

^^^ They are called economic migrants because they are migrating for economic benefit - reaching wealthier countries. This is opposed to refugees who need asylum from danger. Refugees are supposed to stop at the first safe country they enter.

Most of these people aren't refugees.

Cheers.

[deeks]

Thank god they're not coming to LOS.

[Scott]

^^^ They are called economic migrants because they are migrating for economic benefit - reaching wealthier countries. This is opposed to refugees who need asylum from danger. Refugees are supposed to stop at the first safe country they enter.

Most of these people aren't refugees.

Cheers.

For many of them, the first country which is a full signatory to the UN conventions on Refugees is a European country. Turkey is not a signatory to the conventions, and abides by only a select few. They apply geographic limitations on the UN Conventions. Only people from Europe, fleeing to Turkey, can be given refugee status. This was, in part, to provide protection to those fleeing the Balkan war.

If you are coming from Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria, you may have few options for safety but to head to somewhere such as Europe. There aren't a lot of countries in the vicinity that are signatories to the UN Conventions.

Neighboring countries are providing a safe-haven for hundreds of thousands of people, but they are not necessarily afforded the ability of being screened for refugee status and they are not guaranteed safety. The situation is not unlike the one in Thailand where they may let them stay or they may not.

There is no doubt that those arriving in Europe are a mix, but unless/until they are screened, it cannot be definitively said that they are not refugees.

[ABCer]

And this is only the beginning, the first step of the grand scheme of Europe Islamisation...

One word is missing here:

unavoidable or irreversible or fatal - at the present state of affairs and level.

BTW, this declaration is a preamble to invoke the Laws passed allowing the "expropriation of properties of Europeans in a critical situation"

Look up Germany, Sweden, maybe some other Members.

Or still better - Google the song on YouTube called "My new leather Jacket". It's good fun.

[otherstuff1957]

There are millions of refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. They are housed in giant camps, provided with food, water and most of the basic necessities of life. Aside from refugees in Jordan, they are not free to seek jobs in their host countries and are usually not given the option of becoming a citizen or PR of the country of refuge. Some Palestinians have lived in refugee camps for multiple generations and are still not free to travel or work in the country of refuge.

The camps are often dominated by criminal gangs are are breeding grounds for terrorists. Anyplace that has large numbers of unemployed young men who have no hope for the future is naturally going to have a lot of problems.

Many of the Syrians that are swarming over Europe's borders are fleeing from these camps. They are not fleeing from active warfare, but they are leaving a place where they have no opportunity and no hope.

Needless to say, if they find themselves in camps in Europe, with no job opportunities or immediate chance at resettlement, there will be trouble!

[baboon]

^^

Trouble it will be, then. For a start, there are nowhere near enough jobs and housing as it is, and a number of these folk seem to be under the impression they will be enriching the native culture from the comfort of a Docklands pad whilst working in a managerial job. How can this end well?

[dageurreotype]

Thank god they're not coming to LOS.

Many of them are already here

[farangmick]

And this is only the beginning, the first step of the grand scheme of Europe Islamisation...

One word is missing here:

unavoidable or irreversible or fatal - at the present state of affairs and level.

BTW, this declaration is a preamble to invoke the Laws passed allowing the "expropriation of properties of Europeans in a critical situation"

Look up Germany, Sweden, maybe some other Members.

Or still better - Google the song on YouTube called "My new leather Jacket". It's good fun.

Just watched it, brilliant. Had to post on Facebook.

[farangmick]

Time for Brexit, bricking up the tunnel and reforming the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard

[OMGImInPattaya]

Time for Brexit, bricking up the tunnel and reforming the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard

Brits must be thanking the stars they didn't sign up for the Schengen Agreement (and the Euro too)...yeah, time to jump off the deck of the sinking ship that's the EU!

[Ulic]

Tens of thousands of jobs for millions of people. The trouble is just starting.

[h90]

Just give them bus tickets to Berlin and a map to Merkel's Chancery and let her house them there.

Germany considered once to not let them in at the Austrian border.....

I just imagine when the full stream to Germany is on the way and Germany blocks it. Than we have 1 Million refugees in Austria and the Austrians dig out grandpas brown uniform in responds.....

Today is election day in Vienna which should be a bit of an indicator for what people think about the refugee problem.

[NongKhaiKid]

Even the so sympathetic BBC is reporting on the anti-migrant, anti-Merkel reactions in Germany admitting that some opposition to the migrants has been in place for more than a year.

I can't imagine what Merkel was thinking when she announced the open door policy, it may cost her the job but so what as she can retire on her pension probably unconcerned she lit the blue touch paper.

[baboon]

Tens of thousands of jobs for millions of people. The trouble is just starting.

Tens of thousands of crap jobs at that. You are dead right about the trouble part though, when they discover at best they will be dumped on a council estate and the only jobs available will be flipping burgers or wiping old folks' backsides at minimum wage for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Welcome to Europe!

[ABCer]

^^^ They are called economic migrants because they are migrating for economic benefit - reaching wealthier countries. This is opposed to refugees who need asylum from danger. Refugees are supposed to stop at the first safe country they enter.

Most of these people aren't refugees.

Cheers.

You are right. It is just logical, but:

But somewhere you are wrong.

There are no uniform across the table definitions of refugees. There are no uniform across the table rules for refugees. There are no uniform across the table rights for refugees.

Want at least one example for proof? Here it is:

Refugee status is not hereditary. In general. But for Palestinian Arabs - it is!

Go figure... Cheers.

[MAJIC]

The road to ruin is paved with good intentions,and the forced surrender of other peoples rights!to their own Country! only the Bleeding heart Liberals and those in power are allowed a vote!

[MAJIC]

Tens of thousands of jobs for millions of people. The trouble is just starting.

By which time Merkel will probably have got her Nobel Peace Prize,or whatever!

[Mudcrab]

OK ...

We have been told the boat fare to Europe is about €1,600.

People smuggler fees to the point of departure € Unknown

Some taking taxis to the border got to be a minimum of €400 but I suspect closer to €1,000 because the driver has to drive back

Guestimate cost of say Afghani to get to Germany € 4,500 - €5,000

Now I have a problem with calling these people economic migrants.

If they are indeed, poor, then somebody is paying the bill.

And guess who that might be...Saudi Arabia perhaps? Spreading their particular form of 7th century Wahhabi beliefs and supporting/sponsoring ISIS at the same time.

The fools who think these people are all from Syria are simply deluded.

They are travelling in the tens of thousands from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Land of the Infidel.

The perfect storm.....create the terror and then use that as a justification for the followers to begin the invasion.

All the time relying on the Western sense of the rule of law and using that against them, quite legally.

The old Sheikhs must be pissing themselves laughing.

God help Sweden.

[smudger1951]

The last people polititians in the west consider are their own electorate. I wish they would take obligatory holidays here in Thailand where as you know outsiders are prevented from almost everything. I would love to see the migrants do 90 visa runs and the rest of it. They are what they are - migrants.

[ace]

Sounds like some of the politicians are loving this, they get to show HOW MUCH THEY CARE = nobel prize.

*Then they retire to their lovely country house miles away from a single brown face, except maybe the gardener.

[NeverSure]

^^^ They are called economic migrants because they are migrating for economic benefit - reaching wealthier countries. This is opposed to refugees who need asylum from danger. Refugees are supposed to stop at the first safe country they enter.

Most of these people aren't refugees.

Cheers.

For many of them, the first country which is a full signatory to the UN conventions on Refugees is a European country. Turkey is not a signatory to the conventions, and abides by only a select few. They apply geographic limitations on the UN Conventions. Only people from Europe, fleeing to Turkey, can be given refugee status. This was, in part, to provide protection to those fleeing the Balkan war.

If you are coming from Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria, you may have few options for safety but to head to somewhere such as Europe. There aren't a lot of countries in the vicinity that are signatories to the UN Conventions.

Neighboring countries are providing a safe-haven for hundreds of thousands of people, but they are not necessarily afforded the ability of being screened for refugee status and they are not guaranteed safety. The situation is not unlike the one in Thailand where they may let them stay or they may not.

There is no doubt that those arriving in Europe are a mix, but unless/until they are screened, it cannot be definitively said that they are not refugees.

I doubt anyone knows what percentage of them are Syrians. Many left their home countries as economic opportunists and were never refugees or Syrians.

Once a true refugee reaches safety he's supposed to stop. Paying big money to move far North for perceived economic benefit isn't about refugees.

Have you noticed from myriad and random pictures on the news how many of these people are young and healthy looking men? From what I can see, I see a majority of them.

To say this won't end well for Europe is a classic understatement.

[attento]

"Liebling Mutti" invited and encouraged the migrants to Germany, (she was speaking on behalf of Germany, not the EU) and is now demanding that the rest of the EU pay for her act of 'generosity and humanity'. Emotional blackmail. Of course, supporting genuine refugees in a considered and planned manner is essential, but Germany decided they would go it alone The EU could reach no consensus, so she went ahead anyway with her unilateral announcement.

.

There is no such thing as union in the EU (except for collecting Taxes to fuel the burgeoning bureaucracy, and to keep the Belgian economy afloat). In reality, it is every country for themselves, more or less as it always has been. Mutti has demonstrated that vividly.

[Scott]

^^^ They are called economic migrants because they are migrating for economic benefit - reaching wealthier countries. This is opposed to refugees who need asylum from danger. Refugees are supposed to stop at the first safe country they enter.

Most of these people aren't refugees.

Cheers.

For many of them, the first country which is a full signatory to the UN conventions on Refugees is a European country. Turkey is not a signatory to the conventions, and abides by only a select few. They apply geographic limitations on the UN Conventions. Only people from Europe, fleeing to Turkey, can be given refugee status. This was, in part, to provide protection to those fleeing the Balkan war.

If you are coming from Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria, you may have few options for safety but to head to somewhere such as Europe. There aren't a lot of countries in the vicinity that are signatories to the UN Conventions.

Neighboring countries are providing a safe-haven for hundreds of thousands of people, but they are not necessarily afforded the ability of being screened for refugee status and they are not guaranteed safety. The situation is not unlike the one in Thailand where they may let them stay or they may not.

There is no doubt that those arriving in Europe are a mix, but unless/until they are screened, it cannot be definitively said that they are not refugees.

I doubt anyone knows what percentage of them are Syrians. Many left their home countries as economic opportunists and were never refugees or Syrians.

Once a true refugee reaches safety he's supposed to stop. Paying big money to move far North for perceived economic benefit isn't about refugees.

Have you noticed from myriad and random pictures on the news how many of these people are young and healthy looking men? From what I can see, I see a majority of them.

To say this won't end well for Europe is a classic understatement.

The discussion of refugee vs. economic migrant is not an either or situation. They may be both. Whether they are Syrian, Iraqi or Afghani, they may still be refugees. My point is simply that these people must be screened to determine who is eligible for resettlement and who can and should be returned.

Historically, the mass migration of people, for whatever reason is led by men first and women follow later. As a very, very general rule, women are less likely to face direct persecution than male members of a family. Once the male member arrives somewhere safe, it is likely that the female members will follow. When you see larger numbers of women coming, then you can be assured the routes have been secured and there is a process in place to facilitate larger scale transport of people. In most cases this is facilitated by human traffickers.

The large numbers of people exiting these countries puts huge pressure on neighboring countries which may be willing to house them, however, they do not agree to provide them screening and they do not adhere to the UN protocols on Refugees and with it the safeguards that need to be in place. Recent examples can be seen in Thailand where a few years ago, the Hmong were returned to Laos and several months ago, the Uighur were returned to China, with a few being allowed to move to Turkey. Refugees in the ME remain at the political whim of the local country.

I have worked with various groups of people and have seen situations where 90+% of those fleeing were genuine refugees and other places where 90+% were not genuine refugees.

No doubt many of the people fleeing these areas are facing danger, but danger is not persecution. Persecution is when the existing gov't refuses to provide protection for its citizens. Many of these people are externally displaced people and once the situation is stabilized, they should be able to return, depending on the outcome. If they are supporters of the Assad gov't and he remains in power, they may not be able to return. Conversely, if an opposition party takes control, members of the Assad regime may end up being the real refugees, although it is usually easier to work with a new gov't, which is keen to solidify power and willing to accept international aide under the condition that they treat all citizens well.

Europe is going to learn a valuable lesson about keeping their mouths shut and their borders secure. Screening is best conducted by the UN outside of the resettlement countries. Once they set foot in a resettlement country, repatriation is difficult and a long, legal process.

Until there is active and objective screening, there is no way of knowing who is or isn't a refugee. Western countries spend a lot of money supporting the UN to do this job.

[shirtlifter]

Bloody great,keep the ragheads out,or if you are a liberal let them post their views on here