Liberec, North Bohemia, Jan 20 (CTK) – Liberec will accept about 20 of the 153 Iraqi Christian refugees, the first of whom will arrive in the Czech Republic this weekend, Liberec Deputy Mayor Ivan Langr told journalists yesterday.
He said the refugees would live together in an accommodation facility at first and the individual families would later be integrated into society.
The Liberec town hall will prepare two municipal flats for the refugees and aid would be provided by local Christian groups and charities.
Along with the Interior Ministry and the Czech intelligence services, the Generation 21 Foundation organises the transport of 37 Christian families, or 153 refugees, most of who have been granted the international refugee status. The first 27 Iraqi Christians will arrive in Prague on January 24 and move to Jihlava, south Moravia. The rest of them are to come in February and March.
Last year, the Czech government decided that the country will accept a total of 1500 refugees until the end of 2017.
Liberec provided a new home to refugees already in the past. In 2006, 15 people from Uzbekistan moved to the town after fleeing their homeland following the violent suppression of anti-government demonstrations in Andijan. The Uzbek police and army killed several hundred protesters then, according to estimates.
