Oktoberfest tents to be used to house refugees fleeing crisis in Syria
More than 19,000 asylum applications were made by September in one year
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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Germany could house Syrian refugees in tents used at the Oktoberfest beer festival as their resources have been stretched to the limit.
Local governments complain they lack facilities to cope with the largest amount of refugees and asylum seekers in the European Union, with immigration at the country’s highest in two decades.
More than 3.2million Syrians have fled the country and another 6.5million are homeless within the country's borders, making the conflict the largest forced displacement crisis in the world, according to human rights charity Amnesty International.
Meanwhile, the US have stepped up their airstrikes on Syrian town Kobani where Kurds defending their homes have given the American army and its allies coordinates in a bid to halt the violent Islamic State takeover.
Many refugees fleeing the ongoing civil war, which has claimed the lives of more than 190,000 people, are forced to sleep outside as barracks used for temporary housing in Germany are full.
Asylum applications jumped 39 per cent from a year ago to 19,043 in September, and bureaucratic bottlenecks mean more than 2,000 claims are waiting to be registered in Munich.
A public outcry at television images of refugees arriving at Munich station has led to the ruling party, headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, to launch an “asylum task force”.
The prosperous conservative government (CDU/CSU) are concerned that more support is directed toward a new rightist party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), in light of the immigration influx.
Horst Seehofer, Minister-President of Germany, said: "We will not overcome this challenge if we wear party political spectacles. There must be joint action by the federal, state and local government."
Authorities may also be using the Olympic stadium site in Munich as temporary accommodation for refugees, the city's newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung revealed.
Asylum seekers receive €140 a month in benefits, but the majority are keen to give back to the growing economy, according to a report by the BBC.
AfD launched last year as an anti-euro party with tackling immigration at the centre of their policies and its national ratings rose eight per cent, helping it win seats in parliament.
Spokesman for AfD, Konrad Adam, said this month: “The right to political asylum...has become an uncontrolled right to immigration and to stay for an almost unlimited time.
“It is understandable if people oppose this officially tolerated abuse.”
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