Updated:
Several federal states are preparing for increasing numbers of refugees.
Berlin – The state of Berlin wants to open five accommodations with a total of 1200 places within four weeks, as Monika Hebbinghaus from the State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF) told the German Press Agency on Tuesday. According to the LAF, around 5,000 new arrivals were registered by the end of September, which is more than in the entire previous year (4,589).
In Brandenburg, the number of people seeking protection in the initial reception in October has risen to over 2000 – more than in any other month of the year. According to the Interior Ministry, the initial reception locations are not yet at their capacity limit. While 485 people were counted in August and 1479 in September, there were 2098 asylum seekers from October 1 to 18. The majority of them – with 1931 people – came across the Polish border to Brandenburg.
For some time now, the Federal Police have been registering an increasing number of illegal border crossings on the German-Polish border and are linking this to the situation in Belarus. The governments of several countries accuse the ruler there, Alexander Lukashenko, of bringing refugees from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in an organized manner. He had announced that Minsk would no longer prevent migrants from continuing to travel to the EU – in response to tightened Western sanctions against his country.
The number of refugees arriving in Saxony has also risen sharply recently. According to information from the regional directorate on Tuesday, 5539 asylum seekers were registered from January to the end of September; in October there were already around 1000 newcomers. In September, access numbers were last reached at the end of 2017, it said. In the first nine months of 2020, 3,036 refugees came to Saxony.
In Hesse, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs, there are plans to create more places in the initial reception facilities. Around 5500 people are currently accommodated in the country’s initial reception centers. A year ago it was about 3,300.
According to the CDU State Secretary Siegfried Lorek at the weekend, Baden-Württemberg also wants to expand its initial reception capacity by around 800 additional places this year. Last September, 1714 people came to Baden-Württemberg – the last time in March 2017. Most of the refugees are currently coming from Syria and Afghanistan because of the political tensions. (dpa)
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