The Latest: Canadian Red Cross Sends Refugee Aid to Germany

BERLIN — The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET):The Canadian Red Cross says it's sending thousands of cots and blankets to Germany to help
the German Red Cross deal with the massive influx of refugees and other migrants.The Canadian Red Cross said it was sending more than 10,000 cots and a similar number of blankets that the German Red Cross would use at camps and reception centers, where it has been providing assistance.Canadian Red Cross CEO and President Conrad Suave visited camps in Germany over the past week and said much more aid would be needed.He said in a statement that "a collaborative approach involving countries, humanitarian actors and the global community is needed to respond to ever-growing needs."Hungarian police have unveiled the obstacle they intend to deploy to block the most high-profile gap in their border security fence: a rail container lined top to bottom with razor wire.In recent months, people arriving in Hungary from Serbia have walked across the border on train tracks near the village of Roszke, despite razor-wire-topped fences on either side.The cargo container is expected to be rolled at midnight down to the border and will entirely block the gap. It can be removed to allow trains to pass.The government now says, starting Tuesday, people seeking asylum in Hungary or deeper in Europe must use a police-supervised road crossing. Anyone trying to get through the fence will face criminal charges and potential imprisonment or deportation back to Serbia.Germany's new border checks have caused traffic jams as long as 20 kilometers (12 miles) on highways in Austria.Austrian highway operator Asfinag said the longest traffic jam Monday was at Suben on the A8 highway near the German city of Passau, according to the Austria Press Agency.There was also a 10-kilometer (6-mile) traffic jam on the A10 highway at Salzburg at one point.Germany says refugees will still be welcomed into the country regardless of the border controls it introduced late Sunday but they will come in a more orderly manner.Hungary's prime minister has spelled out the new laws on immigration that are taking effect at midnight.Hungary hopes to imprison human traffickers and deport back to Serbia migrants who do not use police-supervised border checkpoints to register with authorities.Prime Minister Viktor Orban told border police on Monday that "illegal border crossings will no longer be misdemeanors but felonies punishable with prison terms or bans."He added "punishment for human trafficking will be so severe that it will be really deserved by those who do business with the life and fate of others."Still, Orban advised police to use minimum force and treat the newcomers as fellow human beings. Hungarian police detained 5,809 migrants Sunday, shattering the previous one-day mark of 4,330 set Saturday.The European Union is looking for member states to contribute military ships and planes for an international operation in the Mediterranean to counter human traffickingIf the program is approved, the ships could seize and divert vessels carrying no national flags in international waters but not in a nation's territorial waters. The EU would still need to set up rules of engagement to see whether lethal force could be used to stop smugglers.The approval process could still take several weeks.The EU said Monday it had finished the analysis needed for such an operation.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has told police bound for the Serbian border that they must "defend Hungary and Europe" and "protect our way of life."In a ceremony Monday at Budapest's grandiose Heroes Square, where statues honor the founding fathers of Hungary, Orban told 860 officers that new laws on Tuesday would allow them to arrest and charge those who get through the country's new border fence with criminal offenses that can end in prison or deportation.Orban said he hoped the new measures would deter foreigners from traveling into Hungary. He says "Hungary is a country with a thousand-year-old Christian culture. We Hungarians don't want the worldwide movement of people to change Hungary."Poland's prime minister says the European Union's outside borders must be strictly controlled in the face of a huge surge of immigrants.Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz also said Monday that Poland would restore its own border controls if it saw any outside threats. She did not elaborate.The EU's interior ministers are discussing how to share 160,000 asylum seekers among the bloc's 28 nations at a meeting Monday in Brussels.Kopacz said Poland will not agree to the refugee quota — some 12,000 people — that the EU wants it to accept. She says "we will accept the number of refugees that we can afford, not one more, not one less."Poland says it can handle over 2,000 refugees.source:nytimes