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Tensions are growing in Austria over the deportation of three girls to Georgia and Armenia, including a 12-year-old girl who was born in the country, Euronews reported. 

The government is being criticised for expelling the children, who are considered to be "well-integrated" into Austrian society, especially amid the coronavirus crisis, the source said. 

Tina, 12, who was born in Austria and has lived there for 10 years in total said: "When we started, I saw many people and policemen who pushed these people away, who pushed them on the ground."

After a seven-year process, her family's asylum applications were finally rejected in December 2019.

Even without a legal base for asylum, the authorities examined the procedure of whether deportation would be compatible with the human right to private and family life.

In the case of Tina and her family, the authorities decided that the state's interest in ensuring respect for its laws prevailed.

Early Thursday morning, ahead of the eminent deportations, there were massive protests from friends, classmates and human rights activists at the deportation center the girls were staying at on the outskirts of the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Those in favour of the deportations, including the interior minister, Karl Nehammer, argued that several court decisions found that the family had no legal right to stay in Austria.