German police carried out random checks at the border with Austria on Tuesday (September 10), after the government in Berlin announced plans to introduce tighter controls at all of its land borders from September 16, set to initially last for six months. - REUTERS
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00:00German police on Tuesday conducted random checks at a border crossing with Austria after
00:06the government in Berlin announced plans to introduce tighter controls at all of its land
00:11borders.
00:12The government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the new restrictions were aimed at tackling
00:16irregular migration and to protect the public from threats such as Islamic extremism.
00:22It's part of a bid by Scholz to undercut the momentum of opposition parties who are riding
00:27a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment as German voters say they are increasingly worried about
00:31what they see as stretched public services, integration and security.
00:37Recent deadly knife attacks in which the suspects were asylum seekers have stoked concerns over
00:41immigration.
00:43The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a knife attack in the western city of
00:46Zulingen that killed three people in August.
00:50The Alternative for Germany, or AFD, earlier this month became the first far-right party
00:55since the Second World War to win a German state election after campaigning heavily on
00:59the issue of immigration.
01:01The controls could test European unity if they lead to German authorities requesting
01:05other countries to take back substantial numbers of asylum seekers and migrants.
01:10And they are raising fears that some of the most vulnerable in Europe could pay the price
01:13of changing political views.
01:19Wiebke Judith is with the German pro-immigration advocacy organization Pro-Asyl.
01:25She warned of what she called, quote, a perfidious game of ping-pong as asylum seekers are shunted
01:29back and forth between nations within the European Union.
01:36Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area, which encompass all of the bloc except
01:41Cyprus and Ireland, are only allowed to introduce border checks as a last resort to avert threats
01:46to internal security or public policy.
01:50Germany shares its more than 2,300-mile-long land border with Denmark, the Netherlands,
01:55Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
02:00Austria's interior minister told a newspaper on Monday that his country would not take
02:04in any migrants turned away by Germany at the border.