Off the wire
• Urgent: Debris found on Reunion Island belongs to MH370: Malaysian PM  • World's leading offshore wind farm in Britain's North Sea wins gov't green light  • Lebanon likely to lose 1 bln USD in aid over "parliament paralysis"  • FLASH: MALAYSIA SAYS DEBRIS FOUND ON REUNION ISLAND FROM MISSING FLIGHT MH370  • Portugal's unemployment rate drops to lowest rate in four years  • Spanish stock market rises 1.16 pct, closes at 11,279 points  • Roundup: Iran urges political solution to Syrian crisis: FM  • Nearly 3,000 Somali refugees repatriated from Kenya since last Dec.  • Urgent: At least 25 dead as migrant boat capsizes with hundreds onboard: Italian media  • UK preacher charged for inviting support of IS  
You are here: 　 Home

Czech to open another refugee facility

Xinhua, August 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Czech Deputy Interior Minister Jiri Novacek said on Wednesday that another facility with 220 beds for detained illegal migrants will be opened in Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia.

With the open of this facility, the total capacity of facilities in the Czech Republic for refugees will raise to 1,116 beds.

Novacek said the capacity of a similar centre in Bela pod Bezdezem, central Bohemia, has also been extended to the present 700 beds.

He said the opening of a new detention facility in Vysni Lhoty was decided at the beginning of this week after the capacities of the current facilities in operation became exhausted.

The Vysni Lhoty complex has an area of 75,000 square meters and it was used as a device for refugees earlier. The object is stopped to be used for this purpose at the end of 2009. According to Novacek, the first refugee is to arrive in Vysni Lhoty on Friday.

By the end of 2015, there will be a total of 1,400 beds available in detention facilities in the Czech Republic. The remaining 300 beds will be prepared in a former prison in Drahonice. If necessary, it would be ready to receive the refugees within a few days.

Czech Foreign Police chief Milan Majer said the number of illegal migrants in the Czech Republic is growing this year. For the first half of 2015, a total of 3,018 illegal migrants was detained in the country, which is 48 percent up than last year.

Since mid-June, there is an increased police and emergency inspections aimed at refugees in the Czech Republic.

Majer said about 1,050 illegal migrants were detained to date. Most of the detained refugees are citizens of Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan. Most of them, according to him, has no interest in staying in the Czech Republic and wants to get to Germany.

Majer said the increased inspections involved 360 police reinforcements. He said the Czech Republic now applied the first level of border protection. The second level would mean tightening controls at the borders of the Czech Republic.

Majer said it is difficult to say whether and when the second level will be announced. However, it could be done overnight if several lorries transporting large numbers of refugees were uncovered, as what happened last week in Pilsen. Endit