Overview
- A caravan settlement of about 150 vehicles linked to a French evangelical free church moved onto a meadow between Aretsried and Fischach last Friday and includes many families and children.
- The field lies inside a landscape-protection area and a floodplain so the municipality says it cannot legally grant a permit for the camp.
- Camp residents are living without sewer connections and use generators for power, prompting official concern about wastewater disposal and fire safety and the creation of a local firefighting and rescue plan.
- Officials issued an ultimatum that expired at noon on Monday and held talks with camp leaders, but the group did not leave so the municipality is pursuing administrative fines and asking police to monitor the site.
- Local authorities call a mass eviction difficult and likely disproportionate given the camp’s size and the presence of children, and they point to similar short-term unauthorized camps in the Augsburg district as precedent for handling the situation.