One year after Germany welcomed 1.3 million migrants, town builds wall for protection

by WorldTribune Staff, November 8, 2016

In September of last year, many media outlets were gushing over Munich’s warm reception for the first wave of Arab refugees in the German city.

Headlines blared that “Cheering German crowds greet refugees” and “ Munich’s citizens welcome refugees with open arms”.

Residents say they don't care how the wall looks, just that it separates them from the unaccompanied refugees.
Residents say they don’t care how the wall looks, just that it separates them from the unaccompanied refugees.

Fast forward to November 2016 and Munich’s residents are singing a different tune.

After discovering 160 unaccompanied young refugees would be placed in a shelter near a residential area, locals demanded a wall be built to separate them from the refugees.

The citizens’ demands are being met as a 12-foot high barrier is nearly complete in the Neuperlach Sud suburb of Munich. The barrier is higher than the Berlin Wall.

“Donald Trump wants to build a wall for Mexico, and we in Munich Neuperlach build one to keep us safe from refugees,” one resident told local media.

Locals say they do not care how the wall looks, only that it will separate them from the unaccompanied refugees who have often been at the center of friction with locals in other German towns.

The wall is also being used as an example of how German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy is not working.

Merkel recently admitted that Germany may have failed with its open-door immigration policy, saying: “If I could, I would go back in time to be better prepared for the refugee crisis in 2015, for which we were rather unprepared.”

Germany has accepted more than 1.3 million refugees.

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