Słubice, Poland - September 16, 2024

Germany's decision to tighten border controls since Monday has caused serious traffic congestion and delays for vehicles heading from the Polish side to Germany, which also triggered growing complaints from the public.

The new measures affected Germany's borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Poland. This temporary control measure will last six months and may be extended after its expiration.

In the Polish border city of Slubice, vehicles heading from the Polish side to Germany began to line up in long queues and move slowly on Monday local time, while vehicles heading from the German side to Poland are unimpeded.

The German government said that the implementation of this control measure is to limit illegal immigration, deal with potential terrorist threats and cross-border crimes, and protect its national security. However, this measure has caused great inconvenience to the lives of people on the Polish side. Many Polish residents need to go to Germany to work and study every day, and the serious traffic congestion has made life more difficult for them.

Shotlist:
Slubice, Poland - Sept 16, 2024:
1. Various of vehicles, pedestrians, traffic jam;
2. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Daniel Malecki, Polish citizen (partially overlaid with shot 3):
"Because there are so many illegal immigrants trying to enter Germany, initially Germany implemented controls at the main border entrances, but now the control measures have been extended to the whole country. Such restrictions are necessary to a certain extent, but they have caused a lot of freight trucks to be congested at the highway ports. Now there is congestion at the port bridge in our city, and people have begun to complain.";
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
3. Trucks moving on road;
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
4. Various of vehicles, pedestrians, traffic jam.

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