Woman evicted to make room for migrants

A German woman is being evicted from her home of 23 years to provide housing for migrants.

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Berlin - A German woman is being evicted from her home of 23 years to provide housing for migrants.

Gabrielle Keller has been given until the end of the year to leave her council flat as Germany struggles to cope with an expected influx of about 800 000 refugees this year.

And the crisis is set to worsen as the UN warned that 1.4 million migrants will have risked crossing the Mediterranean to Europe by the end of next year - drastically higher than the previous estimate of 850 000.

Mrs Keller, 56, condemned her eviction, saying: “I think it’s a scandal to throw tenants out of their apartments. I can’t see the sense of it.”

But Mario Schlafke, mayor of Eschbach in southern Germany, said the authorities had no choice.

He told Die Welt newspaper: “The council hasn’t taken a frivolous decision.

“The alternative would have been to set up beds in the gym.”

Her case comes days after it emerged that a nurse was being evicted from her home of 16 years for the same reasons.

Bettina Halbey, 51, received a letter from her landlord saying her building was being turned into a refugee shelter.

She has until May to leave her flat in the western German town of Nieheim.

“I was completely taken aback,” she said. “I find it impossible to describe how the city has treated me.”

It was announced earlier this week that Germany had translated into Arabic the first 20 articles of the country’s constitution - which outline basic rights such as freedom of speech - to help refugees integrate.

Germany’s open-door policy to migrants has sparked political clashes with some eastern EU member states, in particular Hungary.

It has also fuelled tensions domestically, with riots erupting between Left and Right-wing hardline groups and fights breaking out among migrant groups.

Dozens of police officers were in action overnight in Hamburg to quell a riot that broke out between Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers at a camp.

Fifty police vehicles responded to the mass brawl in the Bergedorf district of the port city.

More than 200 refugees began fighting with one another, breaking up beds and chairs to use as improvised weapons.

Police spoke of “extreme aggression” on both sides with several people were injured.

In Giessen, in western Germany, there have been reports of rapes and even child sex assaults at a refugee centre.

With up to 10 000 arrivals a day, president Joachim Gauck, who has a non-political role, said on Sunday that there was a limit to the number of refugees Germany can absorb.

Aside from the cost and practicalities of looking after so many people - almost 1 percent of Germany’s population - many voters are also worried about how the migrants will integrate into society.

Vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, of the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD), told the Bild newspaper refugees were welcome but that they have to make an effort to fit in.

He said: “People who come here must not only learn the German language, but also learn the rules of the game of living together. I am convinced that the first 20 articles of our constitution are what shape our culture.”

He said 10 000 copies had been printed for distribution.

Daily Mail