First wave of asylum seekers arrive in France via Germany

France is expecting 200 refugees to arrive from Germany on Wednesday, the first group of around 1,000 set to come over the next three days, as “a sign of solidarity with Berlin”.

The refugees started arriving in Champagne-sur-Seine, a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department bordering Paris, after travelling by bus from Munich, located in southern Germany.

“On Sept. 9, 10 and 11, 1,000 people from Germany who obtained refugee status in France will arrive on our territory. These refugees, Syrians, Eritreans and Iraqis fleeing war and persecution, are welcomed in part by the French Red Cross in Ile-de-France[region where the capital is located],” read a statement issued by the French Red Cross on Tuesday.

The refugees will be staying in centers near Paris, before being transferred to different towns and villages across the country.

French President Francois Hollande announced on Monday that France will host 24,000 refugees over the next two years as requested by the European Commission.

Hollande added that France will take 1,000 refugees who traveled from Hungary to Germany as “a sign of solidarity with Berlin”.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls will hold a meeting of ministers on Wednesday afternoon to discuss how France plans to relocate and lodge thousands of refugees over the coming months.

Several mayors of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s opposition party The Republicans party expressed their will to accept only Christian refugees in their villages.

Yves Nicolin, the mayor of the central town of Roanne, said on Monday he would only take in Christians, who are persecuted in Syria by Daesh, in order to be “certain they are not terrorists in disguise”.

Damien Meslot, mayor of Belfort in eastern France, also said he would only consider taking in Christian families from Iraq and Syria because “they are the most persecuted”.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve slammed the mayors’ remarks on Tuesday saying his country “must be prepared to take in all those who are persecuted regardless of their religion and their background”.

“I really don’t understand this distinction. I condemn it and I think it’s dreadful,” Cazeneuve told France 2 television.

The French premier also condemned the two mayors’ comments. “You don’t sort [refugees] on the basis of religion. The right to asylum is a universal right,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“There is no belief or religion when it comes to refugees, Europe has bad experience with selecting on basis of religion,” said the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as he gave his State of the European Union speech before the European Parliament on Wednesday.