German police in Munich have appealed to the local community to stop donating supplies to migrants arriving in the city. On Tuesday, police said they were "overwhelmed" by the vast amount of food, water and other supplies being delivered to Munich's main train station, after they had initially tweeted about the hundreds of migrants arriving, saying: "Anyone who wants to help is welcome."
The response from citizens to this tweet was immediate and just over an hour after the message was posted early on Tuesday morning, officials posted again—"The help from the population does not stop! Class!"—as they were inundated with people who wanted to offer help and supplies to the 1,400 migrants reportedly arriving in Munich's central station.
However, by the afternoon the police tweeted again asking people to stop their donations for the time being. "We are overwhelmed by the many supplies of #Munich for the #refugees at the main station. Please don't bring any more things," the tweet read.
According to the BBC, many of the people arriving in Munich had previously been waiting outside Budapest's main international station, while others had boarded trains from Vienna. Both Austria and Hungary struggled to contain the influx of migrant arrivals on Monday and Tuesday, the majority of whom were reportedly hoping to travel onwards to countries like Germany, France and the UK.
Hungarian police temporarily halted all westbound international departures from Budapest's main station on Tuesday because of the huge numbers of people. Hundreds of migrants were evacuated outside the station where they began to protest by waving their train tickets and chanting: "Germany! Germany!"
According to AFP, Vienna's main station, Westbahnof rail station, received 3,650 migrants on Monday who were met by a reception of volunteers handing out food and drink. After arriving at the station many boarded trains heading for Munich in Germany, while others headed to Salzburg.
In August, Germany raised its expected forecast for the number of refugees and asylum seekers reaching the country this year to 800,000.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Natalie is an intern for Newsweek's London office. She writes about anything from the arts to Europe's refugee crisis. She ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
