Denmark to move ‘unwanted’ migrants to remote island

COPENHAGEN, Denmark

Danish parliament approved on Thursday a controversial draft law allowing authorities to move "unwanted" migrants to a remote uninhabited island once used for contagious animals.

Harshly criticized by human rights groups, the draft law was ratified with the support of Liberal Party (Venstre), Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People's Party, and the right-wing populist Danish People’s Party.

As part of the plan, the Danish government will establish a departure center with 125-people capacity for refugees on Lindholm Island in 2021, which has a total area of 7 hectares (17.2 acres) and was formerly used by the Technical University of Denmark for researching contagious animal diseases.

In early December, Danish Immigration Minister Inger Stojberg, of the Liberal Party, said on Facebook that some people are “unwanted in Denmark and they must notice”.

Last week, thousands of people blasted the plan and held demonstrations in Copenhagen and the country’s second largest city, Aarhus to call on the government to back down from plans to send refugees to Lindholm Island in the country’s southeast.

Reporting by Davut Colak:Writing by Nilay Kar