Czech government refuses Christian refugees after 'snub'

The Czech government has reneged on plans to take in Christian refugees from the plain of Nineveh in Iraq after 25 of the refugees who had already reached the Czech Republic tried to leave for Germany.

The 25 refugees had boarded a bus for Germany as they wanted to seek asylum there rather than stay in the Czech Republic. They were stopped at the German-Czech border and sent back.

Refugees who “abused the good will of the Czech Republic” will be deported back to Iraq, Czech Minister of the Interior Milan Chovanec, said, although it was not made clear how Chovanec meant for them to return.

Of the 89 Christian refugees who had already arrived in the Czech Republic, eight said they wanted to go back to Iraq as they felt “foreign culturally” in the Czech Republic.

Prague has refused to accept European Union quotas for distributing migrants. Polls show a majority of Czechs would reject even those fleeing a war zone.

The Czech Republic, a country of 10.5 million, recorded 1,525 asylum applications last year, and had granted protection to 71 people, data from the Ministry of Interior showed.