Germany suddenly tightens borders as refugee crisis continues

The German government said on Sunday that it is taking emergency measures to tighten its borders as a huge influx of refugees continues to enter the country.

Germany had taken the lead in welcoming refugees fleeing devastation in the Middle East, saying it would accept hundreds of thousands of people and could handle whatever came its way.

Sunday, however, saw a sharp reversal of that rhetoric, as the government introduced border controls with Austria and announced that it was temporarily exiting the European Union’s open border policy.

From the BBC:

[Interior minister] Thomas de Maiziere said refugees could “not choose” their host countries and called on other EU states to do more.

Trains between Germany and Austria have been suspended for 12 hours.

Germany’s vice-chancellor has said the country is “at the limit of its capabilities” as more than 13,000 migrants arrived in Munich on Saturday.

The move comes as European ministers are set to meet to try and decide a continent-wide plan to handle the refugee crisis. There’s no sign that anything like a consensus exists, however.