Yet few migrants were denied travel at Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport, where around 150 security guards were stationed to check documents, the agency reported. Sweden requires train companies with s…
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Danish security staff check passenger ID’s at Kastrup airport’s train station outside Copenh …
For the first time since the 50s, from midnight on Sunday travellers by train, bus or boat will need to present a valid photo ID, such as a passport, to enter Sweden from its southern neighbour, with penalties for travel operators who fail to impose checks.
Temporary border controls that were implemented at 12pm on Monday resulted in around 1,100 people being checked upon their entry into Denmark.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – The latest developments as tens of thousands of people flee to Europe in search of asylum.
The Danish restrictions may extend to all of the country’s borders.
The incident occurred Monday near the border town of Gevgelija, police said. He was charged with “obstructing a railway carriage or engine” under the Malicious Damage Act.
The Danish decision came just hours after Sweden introduced ID checks for all passengers travelling by rail across the Oresund sea bridge from Denmark. He said there would be no problem for “ordinary” Danes and Germans to cross the border.
Albig said the state has appealed to Denmark to apply the measure as briefly as possible to minimize damage. Stockholm said the move came as it could not cope with the flow of refugees.
Danish Police officers check vehicles at the bordertown of Krusa, Denmark yesterday.
Sweden’s new controls represent a turnaround for the Nordic nation which has taken in more asylum seekers per capita than any other European country.
“Freedom of movement is an important principle-one of the biggest achievements [in the EU] in recent years”, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said.
Schaefer told reporters in Berlin on Monday that the Schengen system “is very important, but it’s in danger due to the flow of refugees”. “But others argue that Sweden, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and California, must be very vigilant, secure its borders and prevent terrorists pretending to be migrants from entering”. When asked whether the future of Schengen zone was in danger, he replied, “I hope not but I can see the risk”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded by calling for a “joint European solution”, on the issue of refugees and migrants, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
“You can say what you want about the Swedish ID controls, but the decision was made”, Rasmussen said at the press briefing.
The migrant crisis, which saw some one million people flooding into Europe in 2015, mostly via Greece and Italy, has sorely tested Europe’s commitment to free movement, with several European Union members temporarily reimposing border controls as they try to slow the influx. “The solution won’t take place on national borders between country A and country B”.
Last September, the government of Hungary was widely condemned as “un-European” for attempting to defend the European Union’s external border against intruders from other continents.
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Czech President Milos Zeman, who is known for his anti-Islam rhetoric, says Egyptian fundamentalist group Muslim Brotherhood is likely to blame for the Europe migrant crisis.
