HAIDER IN COVERT OP TO DUMP ASYLUM SEEKERS

AUSTRIA TODAY
July 23, 2008

Carinthia’s right-wing governor Jorg Haider removed three more asylum
seekers from the province on Tuesday night in an operation that was
kept secret from his colleagues in the federal government. Haider
and his party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZO), have
been at odds with the federal government’s Interior Minister Maria
Fekter on this issue for quite some time and are continuing their
highly controversial policy to remove criminal asylum seekers from
the province. Three asylum seekers who had committed a crime were
refused further accommodation and food by the Carinthian provincial
government on Tuesday before being taken over the provincial border
with Styria by bus, on route to Traiskirchen refugee camp in Lower
Austria on Tuesday night.

The asylum seekers in question are two Armenians aged 14 and 43
and a 44-year-old Chechen. The two Armenians are allegedly father
and son. The father is accused of having threatened someone with
a knife. In the case of the Chechen man, the offense is about drug
trafficking. Two of the three men arrived at the Traiskirchen refugee
camp in Lower Austria, while the third is currently in Vienna. BZO
spokesman Stefan Petzner openly admitted that the operation was an
effort to undercut Haider´s federal counterpart. He said, "It was a
secret operation to avoid the Interior Minister sending the police
again." Petzner was refering to an incident on Saturday night when
a bus carrying six asylum seekers had been stopped by the police
on the border with Styria. They had been released from Carinthian
provincial care as well because of a criminal offense. Meanwhile,
the Interior Ministry stated that it is the province’s duty to care
for the asylum seekers. The two men who had arrived in Traiskirchen
are already on their way back to Carinthia. Fekter criticised Haider’s
actions as a "failed start to the election campaign." She continued,
"This populist move will not solve any problems but put another burden
on the other provinces’ refugee commitments." Nevertheless, Haider’s
office let the media know that taking them back into care will not
be considered. The governor now even wants to cancel the so called
´15a´ agreement between the provinces and the federal government. The
agreement regulates the amounts of asylum seekers each province has
to accommodate and care for. On Thursday, a meeting between federal
and provincial officials will be held in order to put an end to the
transport of refugees back and forth.

–Boundary_(ID_Vrwai+WmrnUzXAeeidbBPg)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress