Bela pod Bezdezem, Central Bohemia, July 30 (CTK) – Around 50 to 60 immigrants attempted to flee a Czech facility for refugees in Bela pod Bezdezem Thursday damaging two small gates, but they did not succeed in leaving the premises, foreigner police spokeswoman Katerina Rendlova has told CTK.
“I suppose that they wanted to make some claims, or to get out of the facility, which they have failed,” Interior Minister Milan Chovanec told Czech Television (CT) tonight.
Rendlova said the refugees rebelled against their detention in the camp in the section reserved for walks.
“They demanded their release from the camp. They tore out two small gates, but they failed to damage the fencing. No foreigner fled,” Rendlova told CT.
The situation calmed down by the time police reinforcements arrived from Prague.
Rendlova said various forms of protest are frequent in these facilities. The refugees go on hunger strike or try to damage themselves because they do not want to be in the camp and do not want to be escorted back to the country which they fled.
The refugee facility has 270 beds. Foreigners who have received a police decision on administrative expulsion and detention are sent there.
It was established in the early 1990s in buildings that were used by the occupying Soviet military before.
In mid-July, the government decided to raise the capacity of the centre in reaction to the current refugee wave.
Hana Mala, from the press department of the Interior Ministry, told CTK previously that there should be some 400 beds by the end of 2016.
