Germany will impose controls at all land borders for six months

The German government is set to announce temporary border controls at all land borders in a bid to tackle illegal immigration and protect the public from Islamic extremism.

According to government sources, German Interior Minister Joachim Fieser will hold a press conference on the security package later on Monday (September 9) and will inform the European Commission of the plan. According to the DPA news agency, citing government sources, the controls will begin on September 16, with an initial period of six months.

Faced with public concern over illegal immigration and after a deadly knife attack by a Syrian asylum seeker in a German city in August, the German government has been consulting with the main opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on how to deal with the issue.

In recent years, the anti-immigrant extreme right has been on the rise in European countries, including Germany, where last week the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won elections in Thuringia and came second in Saxony.

Germany has more than 3,700 km of land borders with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. Austrian Foreign Minister Karner said Monday that Austria will not take in any migrants turned away by Germany at its border and that there is no room for maneuver.

Last year, in response to a surge in first-time asylum applications, Germany announced tighter controls on its land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.