Against containers for refugees: Citizens in Speyer fail in court

Speyer (Rhineland-Palatinate) – If the city of Speyer really wants to build containers for asylum seekers on a public transport company site, the opponents will have to accept it for the time being: The administrative court in Neustadt, Rhineland-Palatinate, has rejected the urgent application of a citizens’ petition.

Specifically, the application for a determination of the admissibility of a citizens’ petition against the accommodation of Asylum seekers in containers were rejected due to lack of urgency (reference number 3 L 436/24.NW).

Background: The municipal council of the city of Rheinland-Pfalz had decided on July 20, 2023, to build an asylum accommodation in container construction on a property owned by the municipal transport company. One of the reasons given for this was that the existing accommodation capacities would probably be exhausted in the autumn.

Signature list submitted against containers

A citizens’ initiative was formed against this plan under the title “Speyer can do more than just containers!”The applicant submitted a list of signatures on time on November 20, 2023. However, on March 14, 2024, the city rejected the citizens’ petition as inadmissible. The initiative went to the administrative court.

The Targeted However, the request was not seen as urgent: “The property, part of which was intended for an asylum accommodation with around 75 places, had not been prepared or even used for this purpose since the provisional decision was made.”

Container accommodation not expected in the near future

Use of the site as accommodation for refugees is not to be expected “in the foreseeable future”. The property is also leased until February 28, 2025 or December 31.

In addition, the applicant himself had argued, the court said, that there were enough other options for decentralized Accommodation of assigned refugees exist.

An appeal against the decision may be lodged with the Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate.

In addition, the applicant himself had argued that there were enough other options for decentralized accommodation of assigned refugees; the city administration had proven in 2023 that accommodation was also possible without containers