Prague, Aug 5 (CTK) – The Czech Interior Ministry will open another facility for detained illegal migrants, with 220 beds, in Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia, on Friday, raising their total capacity to 1116 beds, Deputy Interior Minister Jiri Novacek told journalists yesterday.
The capacity of a similar centre in Bela pod Bezdezem, central Bohemia, has also been extended, to the present 700 beds, Novacek said.
He said the ministry decided to open the Vysni Lhoty centre after the capacities of the facilities in operation became exhausted earlier this week.
The Vysni Lhoty complex has an area of 75,000 square metres. It hosted a refugee centre for several years in the past, but ceased to be used for this purpose in late 2009.
The first inmates from among migrants are to arrive in Vysni Lhoty on Friday, Novacek said.
The Bela pod Bezdezem facility serves to detain illegal migrants, most of whom head for Germany. They mainly include Afghanis, Syrians and Iraqis.
The facility’s capacity was recently raised to 700 beds. In addition, firefighters have installed tents and porta cabins in the complex, which could serve in case of a sudden wave of migrants.
The last Czech centre for foreign migrants’ detention is in Zastavka u Brna, south Moravia, with 196 beds.
The Czech refugee facilities are to offer a total of 1400 beds by the end of the year. The remaining 300 will be prepared in a former prison facility in Drahonice, north Bohemia, according to CTK’s information.
The nearest town, Lubenec, does not wish a refugee centre to open in the Drahonice complex, which has remained unused for two years now, Lubenec Mayor Jiri Chaloupecky told CTK yesterday.
He said the town hall would welcome the reopening of the Drahonice facility as a prison, whose inmates would help do community work in the town. However, the establishment of a refugee facility would go counter to the town zoning plan that bans the emergence of new dormitories, he said.
Novacek said the government plans to continue raising the centres’ capacities next year, when a centre in Balkova, west Bohemia, will be prepared to admit inmates.
Foreigner Police chief Milan Majer said illegal migration has been rising in the Czech Republic this year.
A total of 3,018 migrants were detained in the first half of the year, which is a 48-percent year-on-year increase.
In reaction to it, the police checks of focusing on refugees have intensified since mid-June.
The tougher checks will continue in the period to come, he said.
Majer said most of the detained migrants do not want to stay in the Czech Republic but eye Germany as their final destination.
At present, the Czech authorities apply the first degree of border protection.
The second degree would mean the tightening of checks along the borders. It cannot be said now whether the second degree will be applied or when. However, it could be done overnight if several trucks with a large number of illegal refugees were uncovered, as was the case in west Bohemia last week, Majer said.
rtj/dr/pv
