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Showing posts with label asylum seekers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asylum seekers. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2022
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Iranian Man Arrested after Threatening to Blow Himself Up at Danish Asylum Center
Friday, September 04, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Merkel Booed by Nationalists for Pro-refugee Policies, Trolled on Internet for Previous Silence
Angela Merkel Warns against Intolerance towards Refugees
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| The German chancellor's visit to the Heidenau refugee centre, greeted above, by a placard reading "traitor of the people" came a day after Berlin said it had eased some asylum rules. |
Angela Merkel was met by a barrage of whistles, boos and calls of traitor when she visited an emergency asylum seeker and refugee centre near Dresden. She insisted that hatred towards refugees would not be tolerated.
About 50 protesters had gathered outside the disused DIY store turned reception centre in Heidenau, Saxony, as the German chancellor, on Wednesday, made her first visit to a refugee shelter. Her visit reportedly followed criticism that she had failed to openly condemn recent violence against the large numbers of refugees arriving in Germany.
In a protest organised on social media by far-right groups car horns were blown to try to block out her words. Merkel insisted on the importance of “human and dignified treatment” of asylum seekers. “There will be no tolerance towards those who are not prepared to help,” she said. “The more people that make that clear, the stronger we will be.” » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Germany to Receive 750,000 Asylum Seekers This Year, Reports Claim
The number of people seeking asylum in Germany is predicted to soar to 750,000 this year according to reports, amid warnings by the United Nations that it and Sweden are unfairly bearing the brunt of Europe’s refugee burden.
Government sources told the business daily Handelsblatt the figures, which are due to be released by the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, on Wednesday, are far higher than previously expected.
The leak came as the EU’s border agency, Frontex, said 107,500 migrants were detected at its frontiers last month, three times as many as in July 2014. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Angela Merkel Tells Sobbing Asylum Seeker Why She Cannot Stay in Germany
Friday, April 24, 2015
Angela Merkel Calls for New Rules for Distributing Asylum Seekers in Europe
Europe needs to come up with a new system for distributing asylum seekers, said Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.
The EU's current rules, known as the Dublin regulation, no longer work, she said on Friday.
Speaking at a campaign event in Bremerhaven ahead of state elections next month, Mrs Merkel said any system for distributing refugees should take account of the size of countries and the strength of their economies. » | Andrew Marszal, and agencies | Friday, April 24, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Italians Revolt Against Migrant 'Invasion'
Italians are in growing revolt against the number of migrants arriving on their shores, with more than 10,000 people rescued from the Mediterranean in the past week alone.
The huge influx of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa is putting an intolerable strain on a country that has been in recession for the past five years.
Conservative politicians called this week for boatloads of refugees to be sent back to Libya, while the system of migrant reception centres is on the verge of collapse.
The government in Rome has asked regional authorities to provide 6,500 new beds for migrants who are arriving on a daily basis in Sicily and the tiny island of Lampedusa.
But many regions responded grudgingly - some with downright hostility - saying they had no space to offer.
Val d’Aosta, a small, mountainous region on the French border, offered to take just one refugee.
There was also a frosty reception from the wealthy northern region of Lombardy.
“Here, as in Veneto (a neighbouring region that includes Venice) there is zero space,” said Roberto Maroni, the governor of Lombardy and a member of the staunchly anti-immigration Northern League. "We cannot be subjected to this invasion.” » | Nick Squires, Rome | Thursday, April 16, 2015
Sunday, November 09, 2014
Austrian Far-right Politician Calls Asylum Seekers "Cave Men"
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| Christian Hoebart |
A member of parliament from Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO) called asylum seekers cave men on Facebook, triggering calls from other parties for his resignation.
Christian Hoebart's comments highlighted a febrile debate on immigration in the country, where recent polls have shown FPO neck and neck with traditional centrist parties, attracting about a quarter of votes.
His message, posted late on Friday, criticised a rally of mostly African asylum seekers held in the town of Traiskirchen near Vienna.
"I (could not) show understanding for yesterday's brouhaha of asylum seekers from Africa, so I called (them) emotionally ... 'soil and cave men', who cannot appreciate how good they've got it with us – their host country Austria," he wrote.
Other opposition politicians called for Hoebart, an FPO leader in the province of Lower Austria, to quit his political posts. » | Reuters | Saturday, November 08, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
The Plight of African Migrants in Israel
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
The Home Secretary said the Government would not share the burden if European countries open their borders to asylum seekers.
In Calais to inspect joint immigration controls in the French port, Mrs May said: ‘I have made absolutely clear to my counterparts in Europe that we will not agree to so-called “burden sharing”.
'Britain will not be accepting large numbers of North African migrants. Instead we will be working with other European countries to get these people safely back to their home countries.
‘We have not, and will not, opt into any proposal that would weaken our borders,’ she added.
Tens of thousands of people have fled the political instability in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia in recent months. Their arrival in southern Europe has put huge strain on the continent’s system of open borders, leading to proposals that it be scaled back. » | Jack Doyle | Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Angry and desperate asylum-seekers have torched an immigration detention centre in Sydney, burning nine buildings to the ground after Australian authorities denied some of their requests for refugee status.During a night of rioting, security guards were attacked with fire extinguishers and pelted with roof tiles and timber in one of the most serious eruptions of violence among asylum-seekers in Australia, where the government's policy of indefinite detention is a sensitive political issue.
Riot police had to be called in to quell the protest after the centre's unarmed guards were forced to retreat in the face of the attacks.
About 100 asylum-seekers at the Villawood immigration detention centre, which houses many people whose requests for refuge have been rejected and are pending deportation, climbed onto roofs late at night and began setting fire to buildings.
By daybreak, the fires had been extinguished and the smouldering remains of buildings housing a laundry, kitchen and medical centre could be seen, but the authorities were still struggling to contain the situation within the centre. Police were trying to coax seven asylum seekers from the roof of one building. The group had erected a sign reading "we need help".
The protestors want a meeting with immigration officials, but a spokesman for the department said that would not happen.
Police have warned that the men who took part in the riot could face charges of criminal damage that could further dent their chances of being granted asylum.
But refugee rights groups have said the violence was an act of desperation by people who had been detained for almost two years. » | Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, April 21, 2011
Thursday, July 08, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the right of gay asylum seekers not to be deported if they could show that they faced persecution in their home countries. The court ruled unanimously in favor of two men — a Cameroonian who fled his country after being attacked by an angry mob, and an Iranian who was attacked and expelled from school when his sexuality was discovered — who had lost appeals against deportation in a lower court. The lower court judges had ruled that the men could live “reasonably tolerable” lives in their home countries if they concealed their sexuality. The Supreme Court said that “to compel a homosexual person to pretend” that his sexuality does not exist amounted to denying “his fundamental right to be who he is.” The coalition Conservative-Liberal Democrat government embraced the ruling, which reversed the policy of the former Labour government. [Source: The New York Times] John F. Burns | Wednesday, July 07, 2010
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: UK: Decision on Gay Asylum Seekers is to be applauded and is long overdue >>> | Thursday, July 08, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: HE arrived in Britain as a penniless asylum seeker with only a small bag of possessions to his name.
But more than 30 years after fleeing Communist-run Hungary, Gabor Bartos has been given the honour of being named mayor of his adopted home village.
And yesterday the 59-year-old said his story was a lesson to more recent immigrants on how to integrate themselves into British society.
'It's only right that outsiders should respect the cultures of the countries they want to live in,' he said.
'When I came to England, I had to learn to speak English and had to drive on the other side of the road from the rest of Europe, and I had to adopt traditions and I'm proud of that because that is what made me a British citizen.
'That gave me a loyalty to this country. I just wish all other asylum seekers would follow the same trait. Some of the people coming to this great country won't integrate, and it really makes me angry.
'It's very sad that the old saying "When in Rome do as the Romans" is much maligned and ignored these days.' Former asylum seeker is elected mayor of Cheshire village... then slams immigrants who refuse to integrate into British society >>> James Tozer | Monday, May 24, 2010
Monday, September 21, 2009
DAILY MAIL: Europe's Justice Commissioner will today demand a change in the law to allow 'Britain-obsessed' asylum seekers into the UK at their earliest convenience.
Jacques Barrot, a former French minister, believes the reform would assist migrants who are sleeping rough in Calais, waiting for a chance to enter Britain.
This includes hundreds who will be evicted this week from the notorious 'Jungle' squat in the town, which riot police plan to destroy.
Under current law the asylum seekers should be sent back to the country where they entered the EU.
But, referring to a proposal which would allow foreigners to claim asylum in any EU country they want, Mr Barrot said: 'In order for the closure of the Jungle to make sense, it is necessary to share the burden between France and Great Britain.
'There should be a solidarity within the EU over asylum.
'National solutions to the problem are not viable.
'The people who are in Calais have crossed Europe and have one obsession - to get to Great Britain. >>> Peter Allen | Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
MAIL ONLINE: Immigrants are to be given instructions on how to claim benefits as their first step in a new life in Britain.
They will be told to attend ‘orientation days’ at which they will be given information including their right to claim handouts, according to plans published by ministers yesterday.
The instructions were set out in a Home Office paper on how immigrants will in future be asked to qualify for a British passport by earning points and credits.
At present those allowed entry into Britain gain citizenship almost automatically after five years.
Among the ideas put forward by Home Secretary Alan Johnson is that migrants should be encouraged to return to their home countries to stem a Third World brain drain.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: ‘There are clear risks in depriving developing countries of people and skills they badly need. Government needs to do more to maximise the positive impacts on the developing world and mitigate the negative.’
Possible schemes include allowing workers or students into Britain for just two years before they take their new skills back home. >>> Steve Doughty | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
More than 300,000 asylum seekers should be allowed to stay in Britain indefinitely, the Church of England General Synod has said.
The Synod, the governing body of the state religion, voted overwhelmingly in favour of an amnesty for those whose cases are still being decided on, and said all those who want to live here should be allowed to work.
It also said that a solution must be found to the "intolerable" situation of people who are refused leave to remain but cannot return to their home countries, and that children and families must no longer be detained in Immigration Removal Centres.
The Rev Ruth Worsley, a priest in the diocese of Southwell & Nottingham who tabled the motion on the subject, said: "The financial cost to our country, as well as the human cost which leaves people in limbo for years, not knowing what their future might hold, seems unconscionable.
"With the arrival of the credit crunch, the subsequent loss of jobs, the recent call for British jobs for British people, there is a danger that we become inward-looking and even xenophobic.
"But the Gospel tells us that we are not a tribal nation but a global family." Church of England General Synod Calls Asylum Seeker Amnesty >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Friday, February 2009
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Saturday, December 06, 2008
DAILY EXPRESS: Hundreds of migrants waiting to submit asylum applications rioted in central Athens, setting fire to rubbish bins and attacking passing cars.
Protesters said the riot began when one man fell into a nearby canal after authorities told the crowd that no more applications could be submitted. Only a small number of applications can be submitted each week.
It was not immediately clear how the man fell into the canal. Police said he was injured and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. They said they were investigating the incident.
Outraged asylum-seekers began setting fire to rubbish bins and throwing them into the street, and ripped branches off trees to set them alight. A smaller group threw rocks at passing cars, stopping some vehicles and banging on them with their hands. There were no reports of any passers-by being injured.
The riot lasted for about an hour, and riot police who were on standby nearby did not intervene. A fire truck extinguished the blazes. >>> | December 6, 2008
NZZ Online: Schwere Krawalle in Griechenland: Tod eines Jugendlichen löst Protestwelle aus
Der Tod eines 15-Jährigen durch Schüsse der Polizei hat in mehreren griechischen Städten schwere Krawalle ausgelöst. In Athen und Thessaloniki sowie auf Kreta protestierten mehrere hundert Jugendliche gewaltsam gegen die Polizei.
(sda/ap) Der 16-jährige Athener war am Samstagabend bei gewalttätigen Zusammenstössen zwischen Polizisten und linksextremen Gruppen in Athen getötet worden. Die Gruppe von Jugendlichen hatte nach Angaben von Augenzeugen am Samstagabend einen Streifenwagen attackiert. Ein Polizist gab drei Schüsse auf die Gruppe ab und traf den Jugendlichen in der Brust. >>> | 7. Dezember 2008
BBC: Fresh Riots Erupt in Greek Cities
BBC: Thousands of protesters have attacked banks and shops in Athens and Greece's northern city of Thessaloniki, angered by the police's killing of a teenager.
Demonstrators threw petrol bombs, rocks and other objects at the buildings and at police, who responded with tear gas.
Greek Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos has appealed for restraint.
The streets of the capital were already strewn with glass and rubble after a night of rioting sparked by Saturday's shooting, in the Exarchia district.
Police said Saturday's riots had left 24 police officers injured, one seriously, and 31 shops, nine banks and 25 cars damaged or burned.
Six people were arrested, one of them for carrying a weapon.
Alex Hadjisavvas, the owner of a shop on Patission Avenue in central Athens, told the BBC that many nearby businesses had been looted.
"The window was smashed, the shop front damaged and a large quantity of stock taken from inside has been used by the rioters as material to start street fires," he said.
The unrest, the worst in the country in several years, later spread to Thessaloniki and the southern island of Crete. >>> | December 7, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: Third Day of Rioting in Greek Cities
Greek rioters have fought police in Thessaloniki and Trikala in a third day of violence sparked by the death of a 15-year-old boy shot by Athens police on Saturday night.
In Athens, protesters continued to occupy two university campuses and block main road and rail systems, with the rioters promising fresh demonstrations in five cities on Monday night.
About 15 protesters also occupied the Greek consulate in Berlin, taking down its flag and raising a banner that read: "Murderer state".
About 300 students in Thessaloniki, the country's second-largest city, were reportedly battling riot police on Monday morning, setting alight rubbish bins and attacking cars and shop fronts.
At the same time a policeman in Trikala, a small town in central Greece, was injured in fighting.
The authorities in the capital were preparing for a mass rally by the Communist party, still a powerful force in the east Mediterranean state.
On Saturday night and throughout Sunday, Greek cities endured the worst street violence seen for years as youths fought police.
The clashes erupted after police shot dead 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Exarchia, a neighbourhood of central Athens. >>> | December 8, 2008
WELT ONLINE: Chaos in Griechenland, Konsulat in Berlin besetzt
Griechenland kommt nach dem Tod eines 15-Jährigen nicht zur Ruhe. Am dritten Tag in Folge gab es teils gewaltsame Proteste von Jugendlichen. Vermummte Demonstranten und die Bereitschaftspolizisten lieferten sich in Thessaloniki heftige Straßenschlachten. In Berlin besetzen Demonstranten das griechische Konsulat.
Griechenland versinkt im Chaos. In Thessaloniki, der zweitgrößten Stadt des Landes, setzten am Montagvormittag etwa 300 Demonstranten in der Nähe eines Polizeikommissariats Autos in Brand und schlugen Schaufensterscheiben ein. Die von Studierenden besetzte Universität Thessaloniki wurde auf Anordnung des Rektorats bis mindestens Dienstag geschlossen. Auch in Athen und anderen Städten ruhte der Lehrbetrieb in mehreren Universitäten und Hochschulen. In der Stadt Trikala wurde am Montag ein Polizist bei Auseinandersetzungen mit Demonstranten verletzt. Auch dort wurde eine Bahnverbindung blockiert.
Linksgerichtete Gruppen kündigten für den Nachmittag weitere Demonstrationen in mehreren Städten an. Die Kommunistische Partei Griechenlands (KKE) veranstaltete eine Protestkundgebung am zentralen Athener Omonia-Platz, das Bündnis der radikalen Linken (SYRIZA) wollte vor dem Universitätsgebäude im Stadtzentrum demonstrieren. Innenminister Prokopis Pavlopoulos und sein Stellvertreter boten ihren Rücktritt an, Ministerpräsident Konstantinos Karamanlis lehnte jedoch ab. >>> AFP/AP/dpa/fsl | 8. Dezember 2008
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Demonstrators Occupy Greek Consulate in Berlin
A group of 30 demonstrators has occupied the Greek consulate in Berlin to protest the killing of a teenager by police in Athens on Saturday night. The Berlin protesters are behaving peacefully.
A group of demonstrators occupied the Greek consulate in Berlin on Monday morning in protest over the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy by Athens police on Saturday that triggered the worst rioting Greece has seen in 25 years.
Some 30 people pushed their way into the lobby of the consulate at Wittenbergplatz in western Berlin at around 9.40 a.m. local time, said SPIEGEL TV reporter Martin Heller, who is on the scene.
Around 120 German police cordoned off the area outside the consulate and negotiations are underway with the demonstrators, who were behaving peacefully and had made no demands, police said. At around 11 a.m., 10 people wearing hats and scarves to mask their faces appeared on the balcony of the consulate and shouted: "Police Assassins" and "Alexandros, That Was Murder!" >>> cro -- with wire reports | December 8, 2008
NZZ Online: Griechenlands Regierung verspricht Aufklärung: Nach Tod eines 15-Jährigen durch Polizeikugel - Wieder Unruhen
Der griechische Ministerpräsident Kostas Karamanlis will nach dem Tod eines 15-jährigen Schülers durch eine Polizeikugel die Verantwortlichen zur Rechenschaft ziehen.
(sda/dpa/ap) «Wir werden alles tun, damit diese Tragödie sich nicht wiederholt», sagte Karamanlis in einer Fernsehansprache. Für die schweren Ausschreitungen am Wochenende machte er «extreme Elemente» verantwortlich. «Deren einziges Motiv ist die Gewalt und die Zerstörung», sagte der konservative Regierungschef: «Wir werden das nicht dulden.» >>> | 8. Dezember 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
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