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A Swiss village, one of the wealthiest in Europe , has refused to take in its government imposed quota of asylum seekers, voting to pay a fine of £200,000 instead.
The residents of Oberwil-Lieli, where there are 300 millionaires among a population of 2,200, voted “no” in a referendum over whether to accept just 10 refugees.
Swiss government proposals had outlined a quota across its 26 counties in order deliver on promise to take 50,000 asylum seekers across the country, but Oberwil-Lieli voted by 52 per cent to 48 to reject the refugees.
One resident of the village told MailOnline
“We have worked hard all our lives and have a lovely village that we do not want it spoiled. We are not suited to take in refugees. They would not fit in here.”
Steve Symonds, Amnesty UK's Refugee Programme Director, called on the West to take on their fair share of refugees.
Mr Symonds told The Independent : "Just as it's wrong for richer countries to keep leaving it to poorer countries to host the vast proportion of the world's growing refugee population, so more wealthy communities need to share responsibility with the less affluent.
"This is as true in Switzerland and the UK as it is in countries like Lebanon, which are currently hosting very many more refugees than European countries. We all need to play our part or the current crisis will keep getting worse."
Andreas Glarner, Oberwil-Lieli’s right wing mayor, denied that by refusing to accept refugees they were being racist.
Show all 70 1 /70The refugee crisis - in pictures The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian refugee holding a baby in a lifetube swims towards the shore after their dinghy deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A refugee raises a child into the air as Syrian and Afghan refugees are seen on and around a dinghy that deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrian and Afghan refugees fall into the sea after their dinghy deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A refugee cries as he holds a child on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary in Asotthalom
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees protest in front of a train at Bicske railway station. Hundreds of people, were stranded on a train in Hungary for a second, demanding passage to Germany in a standoff with riot police
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrian refugees on the Greek Macedonian border
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees pass the border between Macedonia and Greece, September 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrians cross under a fence into Hungary at the border with Serbia, near Roszke, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees who have just crossed the border from Serbia into Hungary walk along a railway track that joins the two countries, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Police arrest refugees at Cobham Services on the M25 in Surrey, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Men hold a boy as they are stuck between Macedonian riot police officers and fellow refugees during a clash near the border train station of Idomeni, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian father holds his children close as his arrives on the Greek Island of Kos, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A tourist offers water to Iranian refugees as they arrive by paddling an engineless dinghy from the Turkish coast (seen in the background) at a beach on the Greek island of Kos, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man rests on a platform at the train station in Gevgelija, on the Macedonian-Greek border, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais, July 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Desperate for entry to the EU, the group of people risked being washed away by the sea at Ventimiglia rocks, June 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A police officer sprays tear gas to men trying to access the Channel Tunnel on the A16 highway in Calais, northern France, June 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict People queue after disembarking from the Royal Navy ship HMS 'Bulwark' upon their arrival in the port of Catania on the coast of Sicily, June 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees crossed part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, May 2015
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Afghan refugees arrive on a beach of Kos, May 2015
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Rescuers help children to disembark in the Sicilian harbor of Pozzallo, Italy in April 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Armed Forces of Malta personnel in protective clothing carry the body of a dead man off Italian coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti as surviving refugees watch in Senglea, in Valletta's Grand Harbour, April 2015
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Rescued people talk to a member of the Malta Order after a fishing boat carrying refugees capsized off the Libyan coast, is brought ashore along with 23 others retreived by the Italian Coast Guard vessel Bruno Gregoretti at Boiler Wharf, Senglea in Malta, April 2015
“We were not to be told if the 10 were from Syria or if they are economic migrants from other countries," he said.
“Yes, the refugees from Syria have to be helped and they are better served by being helped in the camps nearer their home.
“Money could be sent to help them, but if we are housing them here it sends out the wrong message. Others will come and risk their lives crossing the ocean and paying people smugglers to bring them.
Number of child refugees crossing into Europe swells “They are not likely to be able to speak the language and if some of the refugees have children they will have to go into the local school where they will need special focus.”
In April 2016 there were 1,748 applications for asylum in Switzerland compared to 1,376 for the same month the previous year.
The Swiss Government has pledged to resettle 3,000 Syrian families fleeing Isis and the civil war in the country.
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