Winter refuge in German youth hostels

Youth Hostel Association head Bernd Dohn told the German news agency DPA on Saturday that existing bookings for other guests had been rearranged so that whole buildings were available to refugees.

The temporary winter shelter would be provided at hostels in five states - Bremen, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria, he said.

"We have amicably rebooked other guests and decided not to take new reservations," Dohn said. "For that, many (guests) showed full understanding."

Hostel allocations for refugees were based on the needs stated by local authorities, which have scrambled in recent weeks to provide shelter in temporary and fixed rooms such as sports halls and container villages.

Dohn said the aim was to avoid refugees being left in tent camps as the weather begins to chill in the northern hemisphere.

Winter shelter until late January

They would be able to stay until the end of January. Unaccompanied children would be supervised around the clock, he said.

The German hostel association has some 500 properties across Germany, offering low-cost accommodation and cafeterias. Many are located in modernized historic buildings.

Hostels in Bremen and at Zeven, among others, have already taken in asylum seekers.

In early September, the association's regional branch in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomeria said it too would keep open facilities it otherwise would normally shut down for winter.

Far-right protests continue

Far-right groups opposed to refugee arrivals staged protests on Friday evening in several locations in the eastern state, including its port city of Stralsund.

At least three people were injured as rightist protestors were confronted by leftists, police said.

Since February, Germany has experienced a series of arson attacks on intended and already occupied buildings used to accommodate asylum seekers.

German public opinion has been mixed. Many have warmly welcomed people fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa. Others have expressed concerns about the task of integrating newcomers.

Extra funding

At top-level talks on Thursday, leaders of Germany's 16 federal states received agreement from Chancellor Angela Merkel's government that next year it would provide four billion euros in extra funding to cope with the record influx.

The leaders also agreed on tighter rules for those seeking asylum.

The federal government had previously pledged three billion euros, a sum decried as insufficient by local and regional authorities tasked with taking in refugees.

ipj/lw (dpa, AFP, Reuters)