Czech police, military to hold border protection exercise over refugee crisis

Czech police and military will hold a one-day exercises to test border protection against the possible stepped-up waves of migration, senior Czech officials said on Friday.

The exercise is to be held in late September with the participation of about 300 soldiers and several hundred police officers, said Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky and Police President Tomas Tuhy at a press conference on Friday.

Tuhy said this exercise should especially show how to preserve the security forces of this country at the moment when there was a task to protect the border and to close it. He said the exercise will aim to simulate the real situation when the border would have to be closed and controls reintroduced.

Stropnicky said the army is ready to deploy the equipment, including helicopters, aircraft and Iveco vehicles with detection technologies and night vision tools. The exact location of the exercise will be announced later.

After Germany announced the resumption of controls on the German-Austrian border, the Czech foreign police reinforced its strength along the Austrian border with 200 people.

Chovanec said the exercise means that they will be practicing in a real situation on the real border, where they expect that the problem could arise in the future. He said Czech police managed to ensure the safety of citizens in the current situation, however, their joint exercises with the Czech army is an important way in practice to test interoperability of these components in crisis situations.

Chovanec said the police detained only five migrants on Czech territory on Thursday. He said the Czech Republic is now outside the migration tracks.

Source: XINHUA