Prague, Oct 9 (CTK) – The Czech military has put 650 soldiers on alert near selected border crossings with Austria, and can start helping police monitor the migrant situation and guard the border in two hours, the Czech Defence Ministry told CTK today.
The Czech police, too, will temporarily extend their random checks along the border with Austria and increase the number of officers in the area to 720 from the present 200 as from Saturday, foreigner police spokeswoman Katerina Rendlova told CTK earlier today.
The soldiers are ready to help the police fulfil their tasks.
“If need be, they can immediately start operations that mainly rest in monitoring the situation and patrolling public areas,” said Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO), who ordered the soldiers’ deployment together with Chief-of-Staff Josef Becvar.
The deployed soldiers mainly include members of the 4th rapid deployment brigade and the 7th mechanised brigade.
“We would also deploy soldiers from other units if needed,” Becvar said.
After the recent training of building a refugee facility and a joint exercise with the police on the border, this is another test of the Czech military’s preparedness for solving a possible emergency situation linked to the refugee wave, the ministry said.
Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) recently said the joint exercise of 500 police and 300 soldiers on the border in late September showed that the country is prepared for tackling a possible wave of migrants, but the deployment of the officers should be faster than within the exercise.
According to the foreigner police, refugees now tend to use small border crossings. They travel in small groups, most often by car, bus or on foot.
The Czech Republic intensified checks focusing on the detection of migrants in June, and it introduced random controls on the Austrian border in mid-September.
If Austria decided to close its border, migrants could start heading for Germany via the Czech Republic.
