Drahonice, North Bohemia, Sept 27 (CTK) – The Czech Interior Ministry will open another detention centre for refugees in a former prison with the capacity of 240 people in a week, Hana Mala, from the Interior Ministry press department, has told CTK.
The plan is opposed both by the towns and villages in the vicinity and the Usti Region.
Mala said the detention centre would start serving the refugees as of October 5.
“The foreigners will be able to use the facility depending on the existing situation,” Mala said.
“Men in particular will be accommodated there,” Mala said.
The ministry is making the last modifications in the centre, she added.
“The staff is being hired and trained,” Mala said.
With its capacity of 228 places, the former prison was the smallest in the Czech Republic.
“The Usti Region already has enough problem localities,” regional governor Oldrich Bubenicek (Communists, KSCM) said.
“We are afraid that if the migrants are here, the situation may even worsen,” he added.
The small town of Lubenec, within whose administrative bounds Drahonice is located, also disagrees with the plan.
Mayor Jiri Chaloupecky told CTK earlier that the establishment of the refugee centre contradicted the zoning plan and the local town hall was resolutely against it.
The locals have launched a petition against the facility.
The police have promised to increase the supervision of the area.
According to the Refugee Facilities Administration, the detention facilities for refugees accommodated 860 people on September 23.
The centres are located in Bela-Jezova, central Bohemia, Zastavka, south Moravia, and Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia.
The Czech Republic is one of the few EU countries to have rejected the mandatory quotas for refugees recently passed by EU interior ministers.
It has only vowed to help the refugees on a voluntary basis.
