After quieter years, the number of refugees apprehended at the Austrian border is now increasing rapidly. Last year, a total of 41,612 migrants were detained in Austria, only during the major refugee crisis of 2015 the numbers were higher. The situation is increasingly affecting the work of police officers, the military and aid organizations in Burgenland – it was said from circles that one was currently “really overrun”. The governor of Burgenland, Hans-Peter Doskozil, speaks of “about 1000 attacks a week, sometimes even 500 in one day”.
Doskozil (SPÖ) emphasized again on Monday that the situation at the border reminded him of the refugee crisis of 2015. and the military just couldn’t get along anymore,” he said. In some cases, asylum seekers would be taken by bus to other states to relieve troops at the border. Doskozil therefore calls for more staff, federal government countermeasures and a European solution: “In reality, Europe is looking the other way, Austria is looking the other way,” he said.
Notifications: Huge crowds at registration offices
On Monday, the Austrian news agency quoted reports from recent days that the registration offices at the border crossings are currently “downright overrun”. The capacities would have to be six to seven times larger to handle the run at the registry offices. The result is that countless people have to stay at the border for several days, in sweltering heat, without adequate sleeping accommodation, sanitation, water and food supplies, support staff and medical care halfway through.
LPD denies reports
However, these reports were rejected by the Burgenland State Police Headquarters. There are waiting zones where people can wait in tents for their registration, a spokesperson said. Medical care is guaranteed by the Red Cross, water and food by police and military personnel. Only in exceptional cases do refugees have to stay overnight at the border. A hall – the so-called Noordhal – was furnished with beds for them.
Arrests almost doubled, aCaught more tugboats too
In addition to the increasing number of refugees, authorities also caught more smugglers, with 441 suspects, 130 more than in 2020. And after the trend of the first five months of this year, a further increase is to be feared, the report said.
Last year, a total of 41,612 migrants were detained in Austria. The numbers were only higher during the major refugee influx from Syria in 2015/16 – as evidenced by the 2021 Human Trafficking Report presented on World Refugee Day by Home Secretary Gerhard Karner and anti-trafficking chief Gerald Tatzgern.
“Dirty Marketing”
And after the trend of the first five months of this year, a further increase is to be feared. “Touts adjust their dirty marketing. They make people believe that it has never been easier to come to Europe because of the war in Ukraine,” said Minister Karner. Until April this year, 3,200 asylum applications were submitted by people from countries (Turkey, India, Tunisia) with little chance of have asylum.
Hours before the report was presented, there was a wild tractor chase and an accident on the Hungarian-Burgenland border near Andau.
Source: Krone
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