The small Bavarian village of Bairawies, home to just 280 residents, is at the center of a heated debate over plans to house 130 asylum seekers in a container facility. The proposed project has sparked fear and resistance among locals, who argue the influx would overwhelm their limited resources and lead to social degradation within the community.
Around 170 residents participated in a rally on Sunday organized by the local group “Bairawies Aktiv” to voice their opposition.
The association contends that the scale of the proposed accommodation is disproportionate, with Wolfgang Köster, the chairman of the group, likening the impact to Munich suddenly absorbing 750,000 new residents.
“The ratio is simply not right,” Köster stated, explaining how the village simply does not have the necessary infrastructure to support the mass influx.
Residents highlighted the fact that the village does not even have basic social facilities like a supermarket as evidence of their inability to accommodate a significant number of migrants.
The local building committee unanimously rejected the investor’s application to construct the container facility, but the decision has done little to alleviate residents’ fears, many of whom point to the fact that towns and villages across Germany have long been opposing the mass immigration policy advocated by the federal and state governments to no avail.
Concerns persist that the district office could override the municipal ruling. According to District Administrator Josef Niedermaier, a special regulation introduced by the Bavarian state government allows state authorities to bypass local planning decisions in order to meet quotas for housing asylum seekers.
“The municipality’s planning sovereignty can effectively be undermined,” he told local media.
Niedermaier confirmed that the district is required to accommodate 100 new asylum seekers monthly, intensifying pressure on local communities.
“The Lenggries property developer Christoph Hartwig, who runs a container settlement for asylum seekers there, submitted the preliminary building request to the municipality,” explained Mayor Josef Hauser.
“That would be almost half of today’s additional population. However, it is to be expected that the district office will replace the community agreement in this case,” he added.
The “Bairawies Aktiv” association is gearing up for a legal battle and is currently calling for donations to fund a potential fight in the courts. While the group insists they are not opposed to welcoming asylum seekers, they demand that politicians consider the disproportionate impact on small villages like theirs.
“We have nothing against people who seek asylum with us,” the association stated, but argued that the voices of local residents should be heard and policies should be introduced that distribute the responsibility more equitably.