Germany: Somali girl receives asylum in a church in Nuremberg

The Somali girl who is expected to be expelled from Germany to Italy tomorrow will receive asylum and protection from an evangelical church in Nuremberg, Bavaria. This is what the president of the 'Matthew - Church and asylum' association, Stefan Reichel, said.

"Today at noon we welcomed her in an ecclesiastical shelter in Nuremberg - we read in a statement to ANSA - The girl will remain under our protection until Germany accepts Italy's request to definitively cancel the transfer".

"I have already notified the Bamf (the German immigration office) and the Bavarian Interior Ministry," Reichel explained. The move by the Matteo association is in fact part of an agreement with federal bodies that dates back to February 24, 2015, he explained.

"This establishes that churches, whether evangelical, Catholic or free, can give asylum for humanitarian reasons to people in serious difficulty. The young Somali girl is a particularly troubled girl", added the president of the association dealing with the 22-year-old's case. "She has already suffered a lot, she is very scared and runs the risk of losing contact with her family. In this case we believe that there are all the conditions to give her asylum." The protection of the evangelical community will formally last until the deadline for expulsion expires.