BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on asylum-seekers in Europe (all times local):
2:10 p.m.
Germany’s highest court has thrown out a string of complaints by people asking it to prevent the country’s government from joining a U.N. pact on migration.
The Federal Constitutional Court made its ruling Friday on the cases filed by 13 separate plaintiffs and published it Tuesday, a day after the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was approved at a conference in Morocco. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the meeting.
The court said that, since the pact isn’t legally binding, it doesn’t have any immediate legal effect for countries that join it and doesn’t infringe on the plaintiffs’ fundamental rights.
The pact is meant to facilitate safe, orderly and humane migration but has drawn strong opposition from nationalists who fear an influx of illegal migrants.
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12:40 p.m.
German police say they have detained eight Eritreans after a disturbance at a center for migrants in Bavaria during which paving stones were thrown at officers.
Bavarian police said security workers at the site in Bamberg were attacked early Tuesday. Several men then barricaded themselves inside one of the buildings. Police officers arriving at the scene were pelted with paving stones and other objects.
Police say officers surrounded the building and firefighters quickly brought under control a blaze that broke out inside. Eight Eritrean men were detained. Nine people were treated for the effects of smoke inhalation, and one police officer was slightly injured.
It wasn’t clear what triggered the incident.
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11 a.m.
The European Union’s asylum office says people from Iran and Turkey are increasingly applying for international protection throughout the EU.
EASO said Tuesday that “Iran and Turkey have both been among the top five countries of origin over the past few months.”
It says that 3,170 Iranians applied for asylum in the EU in October, the highest number for more than two years. More than one in three Iranian applicants received protection in the past six months.
October saw a record 2,880 asylum applications lodged by Turkish citizens. Over the past six months, around 44 percent of Turkish applicants were granted refugee status.
EASO says more than 60,500 people applied for asylum in October, the highest monthly figure this year. Most were nationals of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
