The Chechen Times

Police detain over 50 refugees at Ceske Velenice

More than 50 refugees, most of them Chechens who had applied for asylum in the Czech Republic, were detained during a night action at Ceske Velenice, south Bohemia, during the night today, public broadcaster Czech Television (CT) has reported. The police hermetically closed the town as well as the area along the Austrian border since Austria announced that at least 600 refugees had crossed the border last month. Uniformed as well as plain-clothes policemen checked practically all means of transport in the town during the night. Chechen refugees constitueed almost a majority of passengers on a night train. Just as dozens of others they were heading for the Austrian border which is only a couple of hundreds of metres away and is formed by the Luznice River which is almost without water in consequence of the continued drought. Another 20 refugees, including small children, were found in a night club. They too were waiting for an appropriate moment to cross the border. They paid 2000 dollars per person for the trip, most of them having sold all their assets. The people smugglers left them immediately as the police action was launched. The refugees usually go back to refugee camps where they often try to gain further money for another attempt to cross the border, the police say. Their destination is usually Italy, CT said.

[04.08.2003 11:36] CKT