CRI听力:"Refugee Boat" Enters Berlin

It's an unfamiliar sight in a European capital.120 people crammed into a refugee boat, floating by the country's parliament. Ingo Werth works for the volunteer organization Sea Watch, and is the skipper of this boat.

"The idea is to give the people of the government and interested people the chance to try how it feels to be on an unsafe boat like this because the reason that the people come on this boat is that there's no legal way to come into Europe."

The vessel is an actual refugee boat that Sea Watch rescued off the coast of Libya three months ago. More than twenty six hundred people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year.

"The boat was so completely overloaded that we had the clearance between the rubber and the water was about 10-15 centimeters."

The activists are demanding a stronger response from European leaders, who have focussed on deterring migrants and people smugglers instead of rescue operations or facilitating migration. Of course even if migrants survive the journey, like Nigerian refugee Nasir Khalid did back in 2011, life in Europe is not easy.

"There is no dignity here really. They don't care where you come from, who you are, you're a human being or animal, they don't care."

Khalid was granted refugee status in Italy, then came to Germany to improve his situation. But he remains in limbo, unable to work legally. Still, this country is the most popular destination for migrants because of its relatively friendly asylum policies. Indeed, Germany has been one of the most welcoming countries in Europe since this latest refugee crisis began. But with public opinion here starting to shift, will German lawmakers continue to have that same attitude?

For CRI, I'm Ira Spitzer in Berlin.