'There have to be limits': mixed feelings from Germans over refugees
As dusk fell on Eisenhüttenstadt, Abdul Rahman was heading back to the asylum seekers’ hostel he now calls home.
Rahman, 20, arrived in the small eastern German town on Monday, together with 900 other refugees. They came by special train from Munich. Rahman said he and two friends had fled Damascus to avoid being drafted into the Syrian army. “I didn’t want to kill civilians,” he explained.
In the field immediately outside his hostel on Karl Marx Street two rival demonstrations were taking place. About 60 neo-Nazis were staging an anti-refugee protest. About 90 locals had turned up to support them. The demonstrators – some with shaven heads – unfurled two German flags and a banner which said: “We’ll fight for you until you wake up!”
A small line of police watched the protest. Manuela Kokott, a politician with the far-right National Democratic party, spoke into a loudhailer. The refugees arriving in Germany were bringing chaos, dirt and criminality, she told the audience. Each cost the German taxpayer €9,500 (£6,950) a year, she added, money better spent on German pensioners and kindergartens.
Nearby, 200 people waving “We love refugees” placards were holding a noisy counter-demonstration. A small group surged forward towards the neo-Nazis. They shouted “Nazis out” and began a football-style chant of “You’re so ri-di-culous, you’re so ri-di-culous”. The neo-Nazis sang back: “Whoever doesn’t love Germany should leave.”
Both sides entirely ignored the refugees, who were sitting under pine trees and watched the spectacle with bemusement. They included Syrians, two Afghans and an Iranian from Tehran. Above them the sky turned a dusky pink. What did Rahman make of the accusation he was a burden on Germany? “Give us work and we’ll pay Germany back,” he said.
Rahman said he had been studying law at Damascus University. His country was a disaster, he said, trapped between two killers, Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State.
Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has been acclaimed for her generous response to Europe’s worst refugee crisis for 70 years. She and her Social Democratic coalition partners are optimistic the country can cope. Berlin expects to receive at least 800,000 asylum applications in 2015. About 120,000 refugees arrived in Munich in August. More than 25,000 came last weekend.
With Bavaria unable to accommodate all of them, refugees are now being sent on to cities and towns like Eisenhüttenstadt, in each corner of the country. It is a massive operation. From many Germans, there has been overwhelming goodwill towards this unprecedented situation. They have donated money, clothes and food.
Rahman, 20, arrived in the small eastern German town on Monday, together with 900 other refugees. They came by special train from Munich. Rahman said he and two friends had fled Damascus to avoid being drafted into the Syrian army. “I didn’t want to kill civilians,” he explained.
In the field immediately outside his hostel on Karl Marx Street two rival demonstrations were taking place. About 60 neo-Nazis were staging an anti-refugee protest. About 90 locals had turned up to support them. The demonstrators – some with shaven heads – unfurled two German flags and a banner which said: “We’ll fight for you until you wake up!”
A small line of police watched the protest. Manuela Kokott, a politician with the far-right National Democratic party, spoke into a loudhailer. The refugees arriving in Germany were bringing chaos, dirt and criminality, she told the audience. Each cost the German taxpayer €9,500 (£6,950) a year, she added, money better spent on German pensioners and kindergartens.
Nearby, 200 people waving “We love refugees” placards were holding a noisy counter-demonstration. A small group surged forward towards the neo-Nazis. They shouted “Nazis out” and began a football-style chant of “You’re so ri-di-culous, you’re so ri-di-culous”. The neo-Nazis sang back: “Whoever doesn’t love Germany should leave.”
Both sides entirely ignored the refugees, who were sitting under pine trees and watched the spectacle with bemusement. They included Syrians, two Afghans and an Iranian from Tehran. Above them the sky turned a dusky pink. What did Rahman make of the accusation he was a burden on Germany? “Give us work and we’ll pay Germany back,” he said.
Rahman said he had been studying law at Damascus University. His country was a disaster, he said, trapped between two killers, Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State.
Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has been acclaimed for her generous response to Europe’s worst refugee crisis for 70 years. She and her Social Democratic coalition partners are optimistic the country can cope. Berlin expects to receive at least 800,000 asylum applications in 2015. About 120,000 refugees arrived in Munich in August. More than 25,000 came last weekend.
With Bavaria unable to accommodate all of them, refugees are now being sent on to cities and towns like Eisenhüttenstadt, in each corner of the country. It is a massive operation. From many Germans, there has been overwhelming goodwill towards this unprecedented situation. They have donated money, clothes and food.
No comments:
Post a Comment