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IMMIGRATION

Homeless asylum seekers on the rise

A Viennese organisation which assists refugees to find work and shelter has registered a dramatic rise in the number of homeless asylum seekers in recent weeks.

Homeless asylum seekers on the rise
Entrance to Traiskirchen. Photo: APA

The Ute Bock Association, established by now 72-year-old former educator and refugee rights advocate, Ute Bock, attributes the increase to overcrowding at the Traiskirchen refugee camp in Lower Austria.

At the beginning of June, 1300 refugees were crammed into the Traiskirchen reception centre, which only has accommodation for 480. Each Austrian province is required to accept a designated number of refugees, however currently only Vienna is fulfilling its quota.

According to Anna Schoiswohl, a counselor at the Ute Bock Association, the situation in Vienna too is now critical.

Numbers of refugees registering for assistance in finding housing have doubled as people are turned away from Traiskirchen.

Many were left standing on the streets without food or health insurance.

"We are one of the first points of contact for people who are rejected from Traiskirchen," explained Schoiswohl in a press release. "Due to the large numbers, all our rooms and apartments are fully occupied at present. But we can provide homeless asylum seekers with a registered address, so they can have their mail delivered and the asylum procedure is not affected. That would have terrible consequences for those concerned."

The association is also calling for asylum seekers to gain access to education, counseling and in particular to the regular labor market, thereby enabling them to support themselves financially.

In Austria around 22,000 refugees are awaiting the outcome of their asylum applications, some for more than a decade.  At least one asylum seeker has been waiting 18 years.

Ute Bock, who has received many awards for her work with asylum seekers, is now back at work at her housing project in Vienna's Favoriten district, after suffering a stroke in the middle of December last year.

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FAR-RIGHT

Germany issues entry ban to Austrian far-right activist Sellner

Radical Austrian nationalist Martin Sellner has been banned from entering Germany, it emerged on Tuesday, days after he was deported from Switzerland.

Germany issues entry ban to Austrian far-right activist Sellner

Sellner, a leader of Austria’s white pride Identitarian Movement, posted a video of himself on X, formerly Twitter, reading out a letter he said was from the city of Potsdam.

A spokeswoman for the city authorities confirmed to AFP that an EU citizen had been served with a “ban on their freedom of movement in Germany”.

The person can no longer enter or stay in Germany “with immediate effect” and could be stopped by police or deported if they try to enter the country, the spokeswoman said, declining to name the individual for privacy reasons.

READ ALSO: Who is Austria’s far-right figurehead banned across Europe?

“We have to show that the state is not powerless and will use its legitimate means,” Mike Schubert, the mayor of Potsdam, said in a statement.

Sellner caused an uproar in Germany after allegedly discussing the Identitarian concept of “remigration” with members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at a meeting in Potsdam in November.

Reports of the meeting sparked a huge wave of protests against the AfD, with tens of thousands of Germans attending demonstrations across the country.

READ ALSO:

Swiss police said Sunday they had prevented a hundred-strong far-right gathering due to be addressed by Sellner, adding that he had been arrested and deported.

The Saturday meeting had been organised by the far-right Junge Tat group, known for its anti-immigration and anti-Islamic views.

The group is also a proponent of the far-right white nationalist Great Replacement conspiracy theory espoused by Sellner’s Identitarian Movement.

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