Hundreds of Syrian and Afghan refugees sleep in and around Prague’s central train station every night as they try to get to Germany by train. They come to our territory from Hungary via Slovakia, and the Czech police cannot stop their influx.
The Hlavák initiative, which is taking care of them, and the capital’s municipality, therefore, want the critical situation to be addressed by the Interior Ministry and the government.
“Even more of them arrived over the weekend than before. From Friday to Saturday, we counted 260, and the day after, 207. From Sunday to Monday, we got under a hundred. The weather is getting worse. The situation is bad,” said Mlada Hošková, spokesperson for the Hlavák Initiative.
According to her, there is a shortage of warm clothing and blankets to help the refugees survive the night in Vrchlického sady in front of the train station. The Hlavák Initiative also negotiated with the Prague City Hall, but Hošková said that did not bring any solution to the situation.
According to municipal spokesman Vít Hofman, the authorities are monitoring the situation, and Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) is in contact with Prague Police Director Petr Matějček.
“Currently, there are refugees at the main train station who are not from Ukraine and are only passing through Prague. In our opinion, the situation needs to be addressed at the level of the Czech Republic and the Interior Ministry, which we are trying to initiate,” Hofman said.
Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) did not respond to the editorial board’s questions. According to police, no conflicts related to the refugees have been registered. However, Hošková said police officers had chased some refugees lying in the park off the lawns and others out of the station building.
Last week, Human Rights Commissioner Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková announced that she would like to meet with representatives of Czech Railways (ČD) about the sleeping car in which refugees could spend the night, which was provided to Ukrainian refugees in May.