Refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East are moving into Germany
through the Balkans and Austria.
The scenario is not a one-off, but has become a familiar sight for the residents of the southern German town of Passau, as people traffickers drop off a daily average of 700 refugees – mostly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis. As soon as the smugglers’ vehicles have crossed the border between Austria and Germany, they abandon the refugees in woods, fields, secluded farms, and even on the hard shoulder of the motorway.
Warning signs have now been erected and speed limits introduced after a serious accident last week in which five Syrians were injured, one seriously, after being hit by a car.
. . . .
“Last year we had 400 in total, so far we’ve had 1,400 this year,” Kaseder said. He explained that many of the minors have been sent by their parents because of insufficient money for the whole family to travel. Kaseder’s main task is to find homes for them. “They often have a very clear idea where they want to go thanks to social media,” he said. “They say: ‘Don’t send us to the jungle,’ by which they mean a village in rural Bavaria.”
Dr Ingo Martin, a general practitioner more used to working with the police on drug- and alcohol-related incidents than to dealing with the victims of civil war, does a daily round at the reception centre, inspecting conditions he said reminded him of second world war injuries he had previously seen only in medical textbooks. “Ulcerous gunshot wounds, grenade splinters in arms and legs, and feet that are cut to the bone,” he said, during a break. “Lots of war injuries that have not had a chance to heal during the long and stressful journeys here. It’s a little like being in a military hospital.” But what has possibly shocked him most are the lacerations to the head he has treated – a result of smugglers packing their vehicles ever fuller and slamming the doors with little regard for those inside.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/28/refugee-politics-passau-german-west-balkan
The conflict in Syria has displaced 6.5 million people internally and caused another three million to flee the country entirely.
While the majority of these refugees end up in border countries like Turkey and Jordan, an increasing number of Syrians are fleeing to Europe.
The main route to reach Europe is by crossing the Mediterranean from Libya. After five days on a crowded boat, Ahmed Khalil and his family finally made it to Italy. But this is not where their journey ends.
Having escaped the war their goal is to enter Austria undetected, where they hope for a new beginning and a brighter future.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/compass/2015/07/invisible-railroad-syrian-refugees-150731113458865.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
