referendum clear
Greifswalder against refugee containers on city areas
06/18/2023, 10:55 p.m
The city of Greifswald wants to build a container village for refugees at the beginning of the year – on city-owned land. There is resistance to this, culminating in a referendum. A two-thirds majority opposes such plans. Nevertheless, further accommodation could be built.
At a referendum in Greifswald, the majority of voters spoke out against the construction of container accommodation for refugees on urban land. According to the city administration, 65.4 percent voted against such facilities.
The referendum was accepted because the absolute number of negative votes corresponds to more than 25 percent of those entitled to vote, the city administration announced on its website in the evening. A total of around 47,500 people were eligible to vote, with just over 14,000 voting “No”.
Mayor Stefan Fassbinder from the Green Party pointed out before the referendum that the referendum is not about the number of refugees the city has to take in. According to the city administration, despite the referendum, it is still possible for Greifswald to build container accommodation on private land.
The concern of the referendum – not to build container accommodation on urban areas – was supported by the CDU and the AfD in Greifswald, among others. SPD, Greens, Left and numerous associations spoke out against the stop for container accommodation. They also saw the referendum as a general lack of solidarity with refugees. The initiators had initiated the referendum after the city wanted to set up a container village for 500 people on city-owned land in early 2023.