Germany begins conducting checks at all its land borders

Associated Press

KEHL, Germany (AP) — Germany has begun random checks at its borders with five Western European nations, expanding a system of controls already in place at its four other borders. The police controls began at the borders with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark on Monday morning and are due to continue for six months. The government says it is seeking to crack down on irregular migration and crime following recent extremist attacks. Last month, a deadly knife attack blamed on a Syrian asylum-seeker in Solingen killed three people. The border controls are testing European unity because they are seen by some as a step away from the spirit of the EU’s free travel arrangement known as Schengen.