Germany police intensify checks along border with France

German police have intensified checks on its border with France and stopped 170 migrants since Monday, the majority of which were Syrians and Afghans, and which is 10 times the normal rate.

In Kehl, a German city directly across the Rhine from here, and throughout the Land (region) of Baden-Wurtemberg which shares a border with the French region of Alsace, Germany's federal border police have significantly increased surveillance.

The figure was given by the spokesperson of the federal border police, Steffen Zaiser, when questioned by Xinhua. "Between the months of January and August, we stopped 1,214 persons," he specified, an average rate of approximately five per day.

Comparatively, the number of stops since Monday has increased tenfold.

German police forces used in operations "have not been increased in a notable fashion," affirmed the border police spokesperson.

"We check if the people stopped have made an asylum request in Germany. In these cases, they are conducted to the immigration center in Karlsruhe (80 km from Strasbourg). If they have made a request in another country, they are returned to the country in question. If they have no papers at all, they are turned away," Zaiser explained.

He went on to clarify that "the checks are made punctually at crossing points but also in a zone reaching 30 km from German borders with neighboring countries" as is authorized in border rules inscribed in the Schengen Agreement.

"If individuals attempt to evade the checks, the German police are authorized to pursue them but must inform their French or Swiss counterparts," clarified the German police representative.

On the French side, there have not been any recorded incidents of migrants being turned away.

"The primary migratory flow comes from the east of Europe and the migrants prefer to file their asylum requests in Germany," recalled an authorized French source, who underlined that "the migratory pressure on the Franco-German border does not have the same degree as that which we observe in Austria and Hungary."

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared on Wednesday during a National Assembly debate on the reception of refugees, that France "will not hesitate" to temporarily reestablish border controls.

He also announced the creation of 900 supplementary jobs in law enforcement, especially for border police, in the context of the battle against irregular immigration.

These supplementary forces will cost 40 million euros (45 million U.S. dollars), according to the leader of the French government's entourage. Endit