Prague, Sept 3 (CTK) – About 90 percent of the capacity of Czech detention facilities for refugees has been filled, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec told journalists yesterday.
The three detention centres for refugees in Zastavka u Brna, south Moravia, Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia, and Bela pod Bezdezem, central Bohemia, can accommodate more than 1100 people. By the end of the year, the Interior Ministry wants to increase the capacity of refugee centres to 1400.
According to CTK’s information, the former prison in Drahonice, central Bohemia, may be turned into a refugee facility soon.
Chovanec did not want to speculate about the reopening of the building in Drahonice.
“We try to make use of all the guarded compounds in the country,” he said.
Chovanec said the Interior Ministry plans to temporarily take over the unused buildings administered by the Prison Service.
In the Breclav-Postorna prison, south Moravia, a camp offering provisional accommodation for 300 refugees opened this week.
Refugees who travel on trains from Budapest or Vienna enter the Czech Republic in Breclav.
Chovanec said he does not expect Breclav to become a problematic issue.
He said he was going to visit some of the refugee facilities within a few days. “We want to talk to the mayors and the locals and guarantee security for the citizens,” he added.
Chovanec said the Czech Republic is coping well with the migration crisis. The security measures adopted in the locations of the refugee centres have been effective, he said.
About 600 police officers from various regions have been moved elsewhere to provide security in relation to the refugee influx, he said.
Chovanec repeated that the Czech police will get 1.2 billion crowns more to deal with the migration crisis next year.
($1=23.987 crowns)
