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Hundreds of refugees seek asylum in Denmark, more proceed to Sweden

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nearly 700 out of about 3,200 refugees and migrants who have entered Denmark since Sunday have applied for asylum in the country, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said on Thursday, while more proceeded to the neighboring Sweden.

"If people do not wish to request asylum, we will register their names, but we will only be able to detain them for a period," Rasmussen told a press conference.

The others who have not applied for asylum can continue their journey through Denmark to Sweden as "police have only limited possibilities to detain foreigners coming to the country," according to the Danish National Police.

"We can obviously not keep so many people in detention indefinitely. Therefore, there are no other options than to let them go, and therefore we cannot prevent them from going wherever they want," said National Police Chief Jens Henrik Hoejberg on Thursday morning.

Trains arriving in both the southern Danish town of Roedby and the southern Jutland town of Padborg were allowed to continue on toward Copenhagen, after such service was suspended previously.

Danish train operator DSB decided to offer free service for refugees and migrants traveling from Denmark to Sweden on Thursday.

Many refugees prefer to go to Sweden, which offers more friendly refugee policies than Denmark.

Also on Thursday, citizens in Copenhagen sent food, water and clothes to the city's central station, where volunteers from various local organizations helped deliver the donation to refugees who proceeded to the Swedish city of Malmo. Endit