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Catholic church in Germany ends protest by Balkan migrants

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In this Aug. 8, 2016 picture police officers standing in front of the parish hall of St. Emmeram where refugees were living in Regensburg, Germany.The Roman Catholic diocese in Bavaria says it has ended a five-week protest at a church building by migrants from the Balkans. Some 50 migrants started camping out at Regensburg Cathedral early last month, demanding the right to stay in Germany and protesting the Balkan nations\' designation as safe countries. A few days later, most moved to a vicarage across town. The diocese said the last 16 people were persuaded to leave Monday by police. (Armin Weigel/dpa via AP)

BERLIN – A Roman Catholic diocese in Bavaria says it has ended a five-week protest at a church building by migrants from the Balkans.

Some 50 migrants started camping out at Regensburg Cathedral early last month, demanding the right to stay in Germany and protesting the Balkan nations’ designation as safe countries. A few days later, most moved to a vicarage across town.

The Regensburg diocese said that, after three weeks, some of the migrants embarked on a hunger strike and later started threatening to kill themselves and their children. The diocese said it was “no longer responsible” to allow them to stay and demanded that they leave.

The diocese eventually stopped providing food. It said the last 16 people were persuaded to leave Monday by police.

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