immigration crisis – praag.org

Facebook to help Merkel censor anti-migrant posts

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was caught discussing the censorship of anti-migrant posts at the United Nations development summit Saturday while speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

According to CNBC, the pair were picked up by a hot mic after Merkel confronted Zuckerberg on social media posts critical of “the wave of Syrian refugees entering Germany.”

After being asked about Facebook’s efforts to curtail speech, Zuckerberg stated, “We need to do some work,” confirming he’d already started looking at ways to hinder comments in opposition to Merkel’s immigration stance.

“Are you working on this?” Merkel asked. “Yeah,” Zuckerberg responded before their microphone was cut.

In response to the shocking revelation, media outlets such as Bloomberg immediately leapt to the defense of the tech giant, insinuating that any critique of the German government’s response to the migrant crisis would be “racist” and “xenophobic.”

Only just last week, an article by Infowars’ Kit Daniels examining the pope’s controversial comments on mass immigration was pulled and barred from Facebook without explanation.

Since the migrant crisis began, news outlets across the globe have both covered up crucial facts, specifically NATO’s responsibility in destabilizing Syria, and gone out of their way to outright ignore any stories that highlight the criminal acts of migrants.

Zuckerberg’s penchant for censoring speech deemed politically incorrect is unsurprising given his meeting late last year with Lu Wei, the czar of China’s authoritarian Internet censorship system.

Source: Infowars

Austrian right doubles votes in regional election

The far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) doubled its votes Sunday in a regional election in Upper Austria province dominated by the issue of migration, according to final results issued by the provincial government.

With a result of 30 per cent, FPOe became Upper Austria‘s second-strongest party, relegating the Social Democratic Party (SPOe) to third place.

The FPOe had “taken the worries and concerns of the population seriously and understood them,” partly leader Heinz-Christian Strache said.

Voter surveys showed that nearly two thirds of voters felt that the refugee issue was important.

Austria is the main transit country for migrants travelling from the Balkans to Germany. Nearly 19,800 people arrived in Austria on the weekend, police estimated.

The populist right-wingers had called for stricter border controls and a fence similar to Hungary‘s to control the flow of thousands of migrants that have been arriving daily in recent weeks. They also accused the government in Vienna of inaction amid what they called “asylum chaos.”

The central government and regional politicians had bickered for months over creating sufficient accommodation for new refugees.

As arrivals soared over the past weeks, the government introduced border controls, deployed the army at the border and started discussing more restrictive asylum rules shortly before the regional election.

Social Democratic Chancellor Werner Faymann said the migratory flow from Syria was not the government‘s fault. “I say yes to controls and order, but it must absolutely done in a humane manner,” he said.

Faymann‘s party got 18 per cent of the votes, nearly 7 percentage points less than in the previous election in 2009.

The conservative People‘s Party (OeVP), which forms a coalition with the Social Democrats in Faymann‘s cabinet, remained the strongest force in Upper Austria but plummeted 10 percentage points to 36 per cent.

Upper Austria‘s conservative governor Josef Puehringer said the EU‘s migration policy decisions in the past days had come too late to alter the election result.

The FPOe hopes to carry Sunday‘s momentum forward to the Vienna city council polls on October 11. Three years before the next regular parliamentary election, the rightists have been leading surveys for months, ahead of the two national coalition parties.

Source: dpa

Le Pen to face trial for ‘inciting racial hatred’

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s popular National Front, has been ordered to stand trial in October on charges of inciting racial hatred after comparing Muslim street prayers to the Nazi occupation, legal sources said Tuesday.

Le Pen was campaigning to take over leadership of the FN from her father in December 2010 when she made the comparison, complaining that there were “10 to 15” places in France where Muslims worshipped in the streets outside mosques when they were full.

“I’m sorry, but for those who like talking a lot about World War II, if it comes to talking about the occupation, we can talk about it, because that (Muslims praying on the street) is the occupation of territory,” she told a crowd in the southeastern city of Lyon.

“It is an occupation of part of the territory, suburbs where religious law is applied. Sure, there are no armoured vehicles, no soldiers, but it is an occupation nonetheless and it weighs on residents.”

After the comments, which provoked outrage in France, Le Pen was investigated for inciting racial hatred but the probe was later closed with no result.

But a complaint by an association led to a judicial enquiry which was opened in January 2012.

Le Pen was charged in July 2014 after her immunity as a member of the European Parliament was lifted following a vote requested by French authorities.

– ‘I’ll be at trial’ –

Le Pen told AFP she intended to attend the trial.

“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t miss such an occasion,” she said.

The party remains staunchly anti-EU and anti-immigration and Le Pen has seized upon Europe’s migrant crisis to win votes ahead of regional elections in December.

The FN is already leading opinion polls in several regions.

Le Pen has leaned on traditional party arguments, calling for an end to Europe’s borderless Schengen zone as well as actions seen as enticing migrants to France.

However she also stepped up the rhetoric, comparing the flood of migrants on Europe’s doorstep to the “barbarian invasions” of the fourth century.

Speaking to Paris-based foreign journalists on Monday, Le Pen said of migrants: “We should warm them up, feed them and then send them back where they came from.”

Source: AFP

An estimated 35 million migrants heading for Europe

Shock estimates predict up to 35 million refugees could head for Europe due to hugely unstable situations across the world.

The huge figure was revealed today by Hungary’s minister for foreign affairs and trade Peter Szijjártó.

Speaking as the country begins work on its second fence to stop migrants heading across its border he predicted the current crisis will continue for years.

Mr Szijjártó told the Hungarian Times: “The name of the fence is ‘Temporary Security Border Fence’ but I think there is no question that in this case temporary means years.

“It’s a self delusion to call this situation a migration crisis; it is a massive migration of nations, with inexhaustible reserves.

“I don’t think that the analysis results, stating that 30-35 million people out there could possibly become migrants, would be an exaggeration.

“Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are all countries with a huge population and an extremely unstable situation.”

The Hungarian government also defended itself from criticism over its fences.

The first barrier was put up at its border with Serbia but, after migrants changed their route, they have now begun erecting a 41 kilometre fence at Croatia.

Migrants look to break through to Hungary as that sees them enter the European Union’s Schengen Zone which offers free movement between member countries.

He said: “The recent international political decisions created an unstable situation around Europe that makes sure that the amount of people won’t decrease.

“This is why it’s extremely important to protect our borders.

“This issue wasn’t this important until now, so the European Union neglected it a little bit.

“It became clear that – though its the border of Schengen – Greece couldn’t protect the border of the European Union.

“The Hungarian/Serbian border is another border of Schengen. If we want to follow the orders of Schengen, we have to build a physical obstruction, because this 175 km long area is quite easy to cross.

“The European Union just realised what the Schengen border means.

“If we want to keep the freedom of movement in the European Union, we have to protect the outer borders.”

Source: Express

Hungary closes main migrant crossing as EU struggles with deal

Hungary closed the main migrant crossing with Serbia and more states imposed border checks Monday as the failure of EU ministers to agree how to share the burden of a flood of refugees deepened the crisis.

With Europe’s 20-year-old Schengen passport-free zone creaking under the pressure, Austria and Slovakia said they would follow economic powerhouse Germany’s lead in reinstating border controls to deal with the flow of people.

Poland said it was considering similar steps while the Netherlands said it would have “more patrols” on its frontiers.

Long traffic jams built up on the Germany-Austria border and refugees were left stranded on non-EU Serbia’s side of the frontier with Hungary in the latest chaotic scenes from the biggest such crisis since World War II.

Yet amid opposition from eastern states, EU ministers failed to reach agreement on a plan to share out 120,000 refugees and ease the burden on frontline states from the tide of people fleeing war zones like Syria and Afghanistan.

A day before Hungary has vowed to begin arresting illegal migrants, police fenced off a gap in the razor-wire barrier with Serbia that hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government is racing to complete.

At the Roszke border crossing, several dozen migrants including many children, some in pushchairs, were stuck on the Serbian side of the border, with several women crying, after police shut the border, AFP journalists saw.

“We had heard the Hungarians were closing their border, but they told us it would be Tuesday,” cried Hassan, a Syrian in his thirties who is trying to reach Sweden.

The migrants were redirected to the official crossing around two kilometres (1.6 miles) away, from where they were being taken on buses to Roszke train station, officials said.

Hungary is on the frontline of Europe’s migrant crisis, with almost 200,000 people travelling up from Greece through the western Balkans and entering the country this year, most of them seeking to travel on to economic powerhouse Germany.

Austria and Slovakia pounced on the U-turn by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government — which had previously said it would throw open its doors to Syrian refugees — to reinstate their own border checks.

“We will proceed as Germany did,” Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said in Brussels.

Poland said it will impose border controls at the first sign of “any threat” while Netherland promised “more” patrols.

Source: AFP

Facebook pledges to combat German racism

Facebook pledged Monday to combat racist hate speech on its German-language network amid an upsurge in xenophobic comments online as Germany faces an unprecedented influx of refugees.

The US social media network said it would encourage “counter speech” and step up monitoring of anti-foreigner commentary, as company representatives were due to meet German Justice Minister Heiko Maas later Monday.

Facebook said it would work with other organisations in Germany “to develop appropriate solutions to counter xenophobia and racism and to represent this online”.

It also urged users to report offensive postings and announced a partnership with the group Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Service Providers (FSM).

As Germany faces a record influx of refugees and a backlash from the far right, social media such as Facebook have seen an upsurge of xenophobic commentary.

Opposition Greens party co-chief Katrin Goering-Eckardt several days ago read out in a YouTube clip a litany of verbal attacks that had been posted on her Facebook page, and urged the company to “finally ensure that such hatred and filth” is deleted.

She said freedom of expression is important but “has its limits when it comes to agitation to commit violence, or sickening hate speech”.

Many users say that when they complain to Facebook about offensive posts, the network often responds that after a review the post does not violate its community standards.

Users also accuse the company of double standards for cracking down swifter and harder on nudity and sexual content than on hate-mongering.

Maas said Facebook was required to delete posts in violation of German laws against incitement of racial hatred.

In his invitation to company executives he said he wanted to talk about “improving the effectiveness and transparency of your community standards”.

Facebook said it was “convinced that social media can be used effectively to discuss and question views such as xenophobia”.

Weeks ago Germany’s most popular film star, Til Schweiger, blasted fans who left dozens of anti-immigrant comments on his Facebook page after he appealed for donations for a “refugee charity”.

And a German TV journalist’s impassioned appeal last month for an “uprising of decent people against racism and attacks on asylum-seekers” was viewed more than five million times via Facebook alone within 48 hours, drawing an outpouring of both support and scorn.

Facebook said in April it would not allow the social network to be used to promote hate speech or terrorism as it unveiled a wide-ranging update of its global community standards.

Source: AFP

Austria deploys army against migrants

The Austrian army has been sent to assist in introducing tougher border checks amid the growing migrant crisis, Reuters cited the country’s vice-chancellor as saying.

At least 2,200 soldiers will assist police in tackling the refugee crisis on the border, according to a statement from the Austrian government.

The soldiers will be deployed when their help is required, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said, Krone newspaper reported.

“If Germany carries out border controls, Austria must put strengthened border controls in place,” Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner said in a joint news conference with Chancellor Werner Faymann. “We are doing that now.”

Thousands of asylum seekers continue to pour into Austria from Hungary. Police told Reuters that 8,400 people had arrived on Sunday.

“The flow of refugees remains very high,” the spokesman said. “I don’t think I would be wrong in saying that we might exceed the threshold of 10,000 if it continues like this.”

Police spokesman Gerald Pangl told AP that some 14,000 people had arrived in the town of Nickelsdorf on Sunday, and about 2,500 in the early hours of Monday.

Slovakia has introduced temporary controls on its borders with Hungary and Austria, sending an additional 220 police officers, the country’s Interior Ministry said Monday.

The move comes after Germany introduced border checks over the weekend to tackle the flow of asylum seekers.

Source: RT

Hungarian army prepares for border defence

The Hungarian army has started military drills to prepare its soldiers for service at the southern border amid the unfolding refugee crisis, Chief of Staff General Tibor Benko said, according to MTI news agency.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said legislation to deploy the army could not be passed before the end of September, although actions to increase the speed of a border fence should be expected.

“Everyone has to get ready to do intensive work in the coming weeks,” Orban told a Hungarian newspaper, reported AFP news agency.

Soldiers joined by police will be charged with to bringing the border, which is currently crossed daily by thousands of refugees and migrants from Serbia, under control.

The exercise comes amid record numbers of migrants and refugees crossing into the central European country in a bid to enter the EU and declare asylum. Many of them are fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and heading for Germany via Austria.

Hundreds of migrants broke through police lines in Hungary near the Serbian border Wednesday for a third day running, as the army began mobilising.

The break-out involving at least 400 migrants took place near the flashpoint town of Roszke, where migrants have to wait at a collection point before being taken to a nearby centre for registration.

Shouting “No camp!” they scattered in all directions, some heading for a nearby motorway leading to Budapest, which police then temporarily closed down.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s response to the refugee crisis has been criticized by human rights watchdogs, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.