Locals Serbs Block Road To Stop Transfer Of Asylum Seekers

Serbs blocked the road for the bus full of asylum seekers on November 27.

BELGRADE -- Several hundred people on have blocked a road near Belgrade to stop a bus transporting African and Middle East asylum seekers to a compound in the suburb of Usce.

The 75 asylum seekers were being transferred from an overcrowded government-run refugee center in Bogovadja in central Serbia.

Some 250 asylum seekers at the Bogovadja center reportedly camped overnight in the open under falling snow because the 150-bed center was already full.

Usce residents told RFE/RL they didn't want people from Algeria, Syria, or other countries in their village because they feared for their safety.

Serbia's commissioner for refugees said work was under way to move all the asylum seekers from Bogovadja who need shelter to alternative locations across Serbia.