Conflict in Austria – refugee tents cause resentment in Austria – News
The tents are “the only way to prevent migrants from sleeping on the street,” says Thomas Fussenegger, spokesman for the Austrian Federal Care Agency. But putting up tents (with heating) before the onset of winter didn’t have to be.
The reason for this is an escalated dispute between the Austrian government and the federal states. The federal states want more money for the accommodation of the many refugees. So far, the federal government has not given in.
Hardly a chance of asylum in Europe
These are difficult times for the asylum authorities. Around 600 people are picked up by the police every day. If the trend continues, there will be as many in the current year as in 2015, the year of the so-called refugee crisis.
Many of them come from India, Pakistan, Tunisia and Morocco. You can fly into Serbia and travel on without a visa. But they have little chance of asylum in Europe. The many people from these countries come at a time when the system is already under enormous strain from tens of thousands of people from Ukraine.
One of the villages with refugee tents is Sankt Georgen im Attertal, 50 kilometers east of Salzburg. There, several dozen migrants are accommodated in a small tent city. Namely “young men traveling alone with no likelihood of staying”, as it is officially called. Women, children and families are accommodated in permanent accommodation.
Mayor Ferdinand Aigner does not hide his just about the allocation: “120 were agreed. And now we have almost 280 troubles,” he says. Some residents of his village want to block the highway in protest on the national holiday, October 26th.
2500 meters from the Swiss border
The Ministry of the Interior will not be stopped by this. More tents are currently being set up at other locations. For example in Absam in Tyrol or on the grounds of the police school in Feldkirch, 2500 meters from the Swiss border. The tents are to be set up there on Friday. But the city government of Feldkirch assumes that they can still prevent this at the last moment with the building law.
There are quarters, it fails due to political will.
The governments of the federal states are to blame for the fact that the tents are being set up, says Caritas Managing Director Klaus Schwertner. These would have provided too little accommodation. And the Ministry of the Interior is looking for ways of simple resistance with the tents. “There are quarters, it fails due to political will.”
It is clear that the authorities are now being criticized for carrying out their conflict on the migrants’ shoulders. However, migrants from India, Pakistan, Tunisia and Morocco must also face the question of how wise it is to flee to Europe before winter sets in with no real chance of asylum.