Refugees and migrants using the Balkan route often experience violent, brutal and unlawful treatment by authorities, according to a report published Thursday. People fleeing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Syria told researchers for NGO Oxfam, which compiled the “A dangerous game” report, that they had been beaten, robbed and illegally deported by police, border guards and …
Read the full post →“Oxfam: Refugees treated brutally on Balkan route”
Police have launched a hate crime investigation after a 17-year-old boy was brutally beaten by a gang after revealing he was an asylum seeker. The Kurdish Iranian refugee was in a critical condition in hospital after the attack, which took place in Croydon, South London. Police believe eight people approached the boy as he sat …
A German soldier suspected of planning a terror attack has been arrested, prosecutors in Frankfurt said on Thursday. The 28-year-old, whose name was not provided due to privacy laws, was arrested by police during training at the Bundeswehr base in Hammelburg, Bavaria. Police also searched 16 locations in Germany, Austria and France that yielded evidence. …
Read the full post →“A far-right-inspired German soldier arrested for alleged terror plans”
A group of Syrian refugees stranded on a Greek island launched a hunger strike in protest at the long processing of their asylum application, witnesses told dpa on Monday. The 14 Kurds from Syria, sitting wrapped in blankets in front of the asylum bureau at Moria camp on Lesbos, have been refusing nourishment since Friday. …
Read the full post →“Syrian refugees stranded on Lesbos launch hunger strike”
Pope Francis has drawn criticism from a Jewish organisation for comparing European refugee holding centres to “concentration camps”. The pontiff made the comparison during a visit to Rome Basilica where he met with migrants on Saturday. Recalling his visit to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last year, he talked of encountering …
Child refugees in northern France are facing exploitation and violence on a daily basis, including threats from adult men armed with knives and machetes, Unicef has warned. An alarming report has revealed that unaccompanied minors who lived in the Grande-Synthe refugee camp in Dunkirk before it burnt down last week were “constantly fearful” of sexual …
Italy’s parliament yesterday approved measures to accelerate asylum procedures, cutting the number of possible appeals and speeding up deportations of rejected migrants. Since 2014 the number of migrants reaching Italy’s shores has surged, with half a million arriving in the country, and under European Union law Italy has to set up so-called “hotspots” where migrants …
Protestors in Roszke on Saturday demanded the government change its anti-refugee policies and open its borders, according to the Hungary News Agency. Demonstrators gathered in front of a church in the city’s square before walking to a border area surrounded by razor wire fences where they demanded the release of a Syrian who was sentenced …
Read the full post →“Hungarian government facing pressure after border protests”
Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is planning to build homes in Morocco as places to deport underage unaccompanied migrants who have broken the law, or who want to return voluntarily. A BAMF document leaked to the “taz” newspaper shows that two homes have been planned for now, each with 100 places, at …
Read the full post →“Germany to build orphanages in Morocco to deport minors”
Poland’s prime minister on Wednesday cited the attack in Manchester in which a Polish couple died to reinforce her government’s opposition to a European Union plan to share migrants. Beata Szydlo spoke ahead of a parliament vote in which the opposition sought in vain to oust Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz. She praised Macierewicz, saying he …
Read the full post →“Poland critical of EU policy on taking in migrants”
