GERMANY: Controversial refugee accommodation in Upahl! A district administrator raises the alarm!

MECKLENBURG-WESTERN POMERANIA: Controversial refugee accommodation! A district administrator raises the alarm!
The controversial refugee accommodation in the small town of Upahl in the district of Nordwestmecklenburg will not be closed in October this year as originally promised, but in the summer of next year. Due to delays for which the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is responsible, the facility with 250 places must be used for longer, explained District Administrator Tino Schomann (CDU) at a press conference in Wismar. Schomann personally informed the mayor of the municipality about the necessary extension and announced that a corresponding building application would be submitted. As soon as the new shared accommodation in Gadebusch (150 places) and Selmsdorf (100 places) are ready in the summer of 2025, Upahl will be closed.
The first asylum seekers moved into the container village in Upahl in October 2023. The building permit was limited to October 4, 2024, after which the facility was to be dismantled. According to Schomann, delays in the creation of the new community accommodation in Gadebusch and Selmsdorf, as well as the delaying attitude of the mayor in Selmsdorf, were the main reasons for the extension. He criticized the fact that emails and inquiries from the district remained unanswered for months and felt abandoned by the state.
Schomann described Upahl as a "symbol of a failed migration policy of the federal government and now also of the state." Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) had reiterated the urgent need for change in migration policy in an interview. Schwesig stressed that the number of arriving refugees must be practically limited because housing and school places are scarce. The CDU spoke of a surprising change of course.
Despite the extension, the capacity of 250 places in Upahl will not be increased and the new building application will again be limited to one year. The dismantling is to begin gradually in the first half of 2025. Upahl's mayor Steve Springer was not surprised and expected the extension in view of the difficult accommodation situation.
"The district would have liked to have completed the demolition by October 4 of this year," assured Schomann. "Upahl will not be a permanent situation." The container accommodation was opened in 2023 against the will of the municipality and brought the small village into the national headlines, as large parts of the population massively opposed the construction of the refugee accommodation. The district council approved the project against the will of the municipal council.
The municipality of Upahl failed several times with objections and urgent applications against the construction. Originally, 400 asylum seekers were to be accommodated for a year, but after constant protests the number was reduced to a maximum of 250 places. In the district of Nordwestmecklenburg there are currently four refugee shelters in Haffburg, Kritzow, Warin and Upahl. In 2025, Gadebusch and Selmsdorf will be added, replacing Upahl. The number of allocations has currently fallen to around seven to ten asylum seekers per week, previously it was 20 to 30 per week.
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Video created in 2024