Residents of Bairawies, a small Bavarian village of just 280 people, are up in arms over plans to house 130 asylum seekers in a container facility, a proposal they say will overwhelm their resources and disrupt the community.
Around 170 villagers rallied on Sunday to protest the scheme, organized by the local group “Bairawies Aktiv.” Wolfgang Köster, the group’s chairman, called the situation unmanageable, likening it to Munich suddenly absorbing 750,000 new residents. “The ratio is simply not right,” he said, emphasizing the village’s lack of infrastructure, even basic amenities like a supermarket.
Despite the local building committee unanimously rejecting the application for the facility, residents remain worried that the district office could override the decision. District Administrator Josef Niedermaier confirmed that under a special regulation, the Bavarian state can bypass local decisions to meet asylum seeker quotas. The district must accommodate 100 new asylum seekers each month, putting even more pressure on small villages like Bairawies.
The “Bairawies Aktiv” group is now preparing for a legal battle to stop the project and is calling for donations to fund their efforts. While they have no issue with helping asylum seekers, they argue that the voices of small-town residents must be considered, and that policies should be more balanced to prevent overwhelming these communities.
