After public pressure, the Eichsfeld district stopped renting refugee accommodation. Thuringia’s Interior Minister Maier sees this critically.
Erfurt (dpa/th) – Thuringia’s Minister of the Interior Georg Maier considers the stop to a rental agreement for a refugee accommodation in Leinefelde-Worbis due to hostilities to be a fatal signal. He is still hoping for a rethink in the Eichsfeld district office, Maier told the German Press Agency in Erfurt. “I regret that the district administrator made this decision, but I take his safety concerns seriously.”
The district of Eichsfeld confirmed on Tuesday that the rental agreement for a heated hall in the city center of Leinefelde, in which 150 refugees from Ukraine were to be accommodated, had been canceled in agreement with the private landlord.
Maier offered talks about a security concept. Hostilities and people who spread hate and hate speech on the Internet should not be given in to. The majority of people in Thuringia support war refugees.
“But we are generally concerned about how we can better protect such facilities,” said Maier. The minister referred to the fire in an accommodation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which had raised the alarm. The security of refugee accommodation is also an issue at a meeting of East German interior ministers, whom he invited to Erfurt next week. It is planned for November 4th. “We will talk about various security aspects in East Germany.”
But it is also about how to deal with demonstrations and the increasing radicalization of certain groups that can be observed. “We are dealing with a radicalization across national borders.” Among other things, the minister referred to the actions of the Free Thuringians and Free Saxons, which are classified as right-wing extremists.
Eichsfeld District Administrator Werner Hennig (CDU) told Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) after the lease for the heated hall was canceled that “great displeasure had been expressed anonymously” beforehand. The sound “rocked up”. According to the district administration, various anonymous letters appeared on the Internet in which public administration employees were attacked by name, including the landlord.
According to their own statements, many municipalities, like the Eichsfeld district, are currently reaching the limits of their capacity when it comes to accommodating refugees.
