Sept. 16 (UPI) — Germany reintroduced temporary checks at all of its land borders on Monday in a move that ruffled the feathers of its neighbors but found strong support among its domestic conservatives.
The government on Monday extended checks to its borders with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark along with those already in effect last week on the borders of Austria, Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland.
The move cuts against Europe’s Schengen zone, a passport-free region that includes 25 European Union countries and four others that allow free movement without border checks.
The checks came after the far-right party Alternative fur Deutschland, of AfD, made successful gains in recent elections along with a series of knife attacks where asylum seekers emerged as the suspects.