The residents of a town in Germany's southeastern Bavaria state are protesting against a plan to establish housing for migrants in t...
The residents of a town in Germany's southeastern Bavaria state are protesting against a plan to establish housing for migrants in their area.
According to Remix News, the town of Rott am Inn in Bavaria is seeing wide-scale demonstrations from disgruntled residents. Protesters from Rott am Inn gathered at the district council building in the nearby town of Seeon, expressing disagreement toward the plan to build a refugee accommodation. The planned housing will accommodate 500 migrants, more than 10 percent of the town's population of 4,000.
Heike Bachert, a member of a citizen's initiative against the planned refugee housing, said there are too many migrants for the small town. A former production hall that will serve as the new home for the migrants is "no place for humane accommodations," Bachert told public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Bachert is not alone in opposing the plan as several others also voiced out their disdain. One citizen's initiative poster said: "Citizens are still afraid." Another poster called on Bavarian Minister-President Markus Soder, stressing that he "has the power to put an end to this."
The incensed residents are notably pointing the blame on the Christian Socialist Union (CSU). The party is the political powerhouse in Bavaria, with Soder a member. The head of state had also promised six months prior that no such accommodations for migrants would be built.
Remix News noted that the CSU is in a tight alliance with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – whose most prominent member is Angela Merkel, former German chancellor. Merkel is credited with starting the migration crisis in 2016 during her term. While her CDU party "has paid lip service to growing rage over mass immigration," it has "effectively done nothing about the issue in the places it holds power, including in Bavaria."
Situation in Rott am Inn not isolated
The outlet continued that Rott am Inn isn't alone, as other towns across Germany have dealt with similar scenarios. Residents in the Johanneskirchen district of Munich, the capital of Bavaria state, revolted against plans to house 900 migrants nearby just last year. Had the plan pushed through, the district would have had migrants comprising almost 40 percent of its population as neighbors.
In another instance, government plans to build a refugee home in the Oeventrop district in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state collapsed last year. When news of the development broke out, more than 750 locals who attended the district council meeting burst into raucous applause.
Despite these victories, "container villages are also popping up against the country." Remix News added: "Even in cases when city residents vote against the migrant villages in a referendum, they have still been forced to take them in."
Meanwhile, one town in Gerolsteiner Land in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate with a population of 110 saw 60 migrants installed nearby. In the capital Berlin, 110 senior citizens were evicted last year to make room for refugees. Incidentally, a Christian organization that could make more money housing refugees was responsible for the eviction – with the organization ostensibly serving money instead of God.
District administrators from all over the country met at the Seeon Monastery in Bavaria for the annual meeting of the German District Council. Migration policy was included in the topics discussed during the meeting held from Sept. 9 to 10.
Soder himself called for a sharp reduction in immigration during the meeting's first day. "What works in Denmark must ultimately work here too," he remarked, referencing the Nordic country's strict immigration policy.
"Acceptance [of migrants] among the population is low and continues to decline," Remix News said. "[German] Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a large-scale repatriation offensive last year, but only 'something Mickey Mouse-like' happened. 'It's really no wonder that people are losing trust in this policy,' [the chancellor commented]."
"As Germany endures its ongoing migrant crisis, the government continues to allocate migrants across the countryside – effectively transforming towns across the nation, many of which have been culturally and ethnically homogenous for hundreds of years."
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