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European colonist briefs
Shots fired at centre where France wants to rehouse Calais migrants[Ynet] Shots were fired at a planned migrant centre in the French seaside resort town of Saint Brevin overnight, an attack the housing minister called "an act of extreme racism". According to officials, bullets smashed windows in the building on France's western coast, one of a number of properties across the country where the government is planning to rehouse people moved out of the crowded "Jungle" refugee camp in Calais. Shots were also fired on Wednesday night at a building in Saint-Hilaire-du-Rosier in southeastern France where migrants are also due to be housed, according to a police source. Migrants March from Belgrade towards Hungary [AnNahar] Some 300 migrants on Tuesday began to march from Belgrade towards Hungary in a desperate bid to enter the European Union, two days after a void referendum in Serbia's northern neighbor. Escorted by police from Belgrade to Zemun, a northwestern suburb of the capital, they began their 200-kilometer (120-mile) trek towards the Balkan nation's northern border, state-run television channel RTS reported. A similar attempt to break through the border in July ended in failure. The number of migrants blocked inside Serbia has grown significantly since Hungary in July introduced tough new measures aimed at stopping them crossing the border. According to the U.N. refugee agency, more than 5,500 migrants are currently stuck in Serbia, which estimates it can accommodate 6,000 to 7,000 people. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on Monday voiced concerns over the situation and said it might have to "close the border to migrants" if they continued to enter the country without being able to continue their onward journey to western Europe. Although the route was effectively shut down in March, migrants have continued to cross the region in smaller numbers -- a few hundred a day -- often with the help of traffickers. According to Serbian authorities, more than 102,000 migrants have been registered in the country since the beginning of the year. Libyan minister urges EU not to return refugees to Mideast [Ynet] The foreign minister of Libya's Western-backed unity government is urging European nations to find solutions to the refugee crisis other than pushing migrants to countries outside the EU. Libya is embroiled in factional violence that excludes it from any EU list of "safe countries" for migrant returns. Other North African countries, however, have reached agreement with the EU to receive rejected asylum-seekers. Mohammed Taher Siyala criticized any attempts to "export responsibilities and burdens ... as a result of illegal migration by dumping them on our shoulders and other countries." Libya snubs EU calls for refugee camps on its shores Four-star French general punished over anti-migrant demo [AlAhram] A retired French general who took part in a protest against migrants in the northern port of Calais has been stripped of his right to wear his uniform, the defence ministry said Thursday. Christian Piquemal, a former head of the French Foreign Legion, defied the authorities on February 6 by addressing a banned demonstration against the makeshift "Jungle" camp housing thousands of migrants hoping to reach Britain. Around 100 people, some shouting "This is our land" and "Migrants out", attended the rally organised by a local chapter of the anti-migrant German movement Pegida. Several people were arrested. EU launches tough border force to curb migrant crisis [AlAhram] The EU's beefed-up version of its struggling border force went into operation Thursday, in a rare show of unity by the squabbling bloc trying find a common strategy to tackle its worst migration crisis since World War II. European Union officials inaugurated the new task force at the Kapitan-Andreevo checkpoint on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the main land frontier via which migrants try to enter the bloc to avoid the dangerous Mediterranean sea crossing. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG) will have at the ready some 1,500 officers from 19 member states who can be swiftly mobilised in case of emergency such as a sudden rush of migrants. Brussels hopes the revamped agency will not just increase security, but also help heal the huge rifts that have emerged between western and eastern member states clashing over the EU's refugee policies. The long-term goal is to lift the border controls inside the bloc and restore the passport-free Schengen Zone. The boosted force is an expansion of Frontex, founded in 2004 to help coordinate Europe-wide efforts to combat people smuggling and illegal migration. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-10-07 |
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