Zastavka u Brna/ Breclav, South Moravia, Sept 6 (CTK) – Some 60 Syrians out of around 2500 migrants detained in the Czech Republic since June have applied for asylum in the country, which shows that it is only a transit country on the people’s way to the West, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said yesterday.
Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka who together with Chovanec (both Social Democrats, CSSD) visited yesterday the reception facility for refugees in Zastavka u Brna and another prepared reception camp in Breclav, said the Czech Republic lies on the edge of the main migration stream.
In spite of this, Sobotka has convoked a meeting of the board of the National Security Council (BRS) for Thursday.
“The board of the National Security Council will only deal with migration,” Sobotka said.
“The police are managing the situation and it is no good to succumb to hysteria. The refugees are coming mainly on trains and buses, or possibly by lorries along motorways. We control all tracks,” Sobotka said.
He said the police also patrol some less frequented places where migrants could enter the country.
Sobotka, Chovanec and Police President Tomas Tuhy first visited the Zastavka facility with a capacity of 216 beds, 170 of which are occupied.
The refugees shouted “freedom” saying they want to continue further to the West, particularly Germany.
However, Czech police act in harmony with law and detain all foreigners who do not have a residence permit or a permit to enter Czech territory. They detain dozens of migrants daily.
Tuhy said the police have deployed additional hundreds of police officers. “Currently, almost 700 police officers are outside their units, reinforcing the places where illegal migration is dealt with,” he said.
“We have analysed the current situation and found out that a half of the migrants are people from Syria. There are also citizens of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Bangladesh among them. The police control the situation and the military need not be deployed,” Sobotka said.
Chovanec said previously the military would be called up if around 1000 migrants were detained daily.
He said the situation should improve as soon as Hungary completes the fence along its southern border and takes legal measures restricting the refugee wave.
“We will then be on the edge of the migration tracks and the number of migrants will be decreasing. We are not their target country, we are not favourites with them because they know that we will detain them and place them in (detention) facilities,” Chovanec said.
He praised cooperation with Slovakia and Austria where the migrants are returned.
“This cooperation with Hungary does not work, but we hope that this will improve as soon as Hungary manages the situation thanks to new measures,” Sobotka said.
He also checked the work of police patrols on D2 motorway leading to Slovakia and visited the railway station in Breclav, which is usually the first place where migrants travelling on international trains from southern Europe to Germany meet Czech police.
Sobotka and Chovanec also visited the newly prepared detention facility in Breclav-Postorna where a tent camp for 300 people has been opened.
The police sent refugees detained on the nearby borders with Slovakia and Austria to Breclav in the past. Now that the migration wave has increased, the Interior Ministry decided to reopen the facility.
ms/dr
