GETTY Milos Zeman has called for a total ban on migrants and refugees

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He said allowing even one refugee into the country was too high a risk in the wake of attacks in Germany and France. Zeman, an outspoken critic of immigration, even opposed plans to allow 80 asylum seekers fleeing the war in Syria from settling there. He said: "Our country simply cannot afford to risk terrorist attacks like what occurred in France and Germany. "By accepting migrants we would create fertile ground for barbaric attacks."

The Czech government has agreed to take in 80 Syrian refugees from a Turkish camp - a tiny proportion of the millions fleeing the civil war. But Zeman said Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka should halt all new arrivals and there is growing public appetite for the government to take a hard line on migration. A poll conducted in May found 61 per cent of Czechs are against taking in war refugees, up from 52 per cent last October. Another 34 percent said refugees should be accepted only until they can return home.

Migrant Crisis: Mass exodus from the migrant camp continues Tue, October 25, 2016 Hundreds of migrants are continuing to arrive in Europe as they flee the scenes of chaos and brutality of the Islamic State in the Middle East. Play slideshow 1 of 224

Eastern European nations have been the most vocal in opposing mass migration from the Middle East and Africa. Hungary will hold a referendum on October 2 to ask its citizens whether they accept an EU quota system to re-distribute asylum seekers. More than 4,000 migrants or refugees have died so far this year trying to reach Europe, according to data complied by the Institute of Migration.

GETTY Anti-immigration protestors have been out on the streets

GETTY Eastern European nations have been the most vocal in opposing mass migration