"Czech President Milos Zeman called the current wave of refugees to Europe "an organised invasion", adding young men from Syria and Iraq should instead "take up arms" against the Islamic State (IS) group.
"I
am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organised invasion and
not a spontaneous movement of refugees," said Zeman in his Christmas
message to the Czech Republic released Saturday.
He
went on to say that compassion was "possible" for refugees who are old
or sick and for children, but not for young men who in his view should
be back home fighting against jihadists.
"A
large majority of the illegal migrants are young men in good health,
and single. I wonder why these men are not taking up arms to go fight
for the freedom of their countries against the Islamic State," said
Zeman, who was elected Czech president in early 2013.
He added that their fleeing their war-torn countries only serves to strengthen the IS group.
The
71-year-old evoked a comparison to the situation of Czechs who left
their country when it was under Nazi occupation from 1939-1945....
In
November, the leftwinger attended an anti-Islam rally in Prague in the
company of far-right politicians and a paramilitary unit.
The
country's Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who has previously
criticised the head of state's comments, said Zeman's Christmas message
was based "on prejudices and his habitual simplification of things"....
Both
the Czech Republic and Slovakia, former communist countries that joined
the European Union in 2004, have rejected the EU's system of quotas for
distributing refugees amid the current migrant wave. More than one million migrants and refugees reached Europe this year, mainly fleeing violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
The
crisis has strained ties within the European Union, with mostly newer
members taking a firm anti-migrant stance and some northern countries
like Germany welcoming those fleeing war....
A recent survey showed that nearly 70 percent of Czechs oppose the
arrival of migrants and refugees in their country."
Image caption: "Protesters hold banners and Czech national flags during an anti-migrants rally on September 12, 2015 in Prague
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