MUNICH — The beer is flowing again at Munich’s fabled Oktoberfest.

Mayor Dieter Reiter inserted the tap into the first keg Saturday with two blows of his hammer and the cry of “O’zapft is!” – “It’s tapped!”

A young woman celebrates the opening of the 182nd Oktoberfest on Saturday in Munich, Germany. Some 6 million visitors are expected at the beer festival through Oct. 4. The Associated Press

Some 6 million visitors are expected in Munich for the 182nd Oktoberfest, which runs through Oct. 4.

Ten of thousands are traveling to the feast via Munich’s main train station, which has also seen floods of refugees in recent weeks. On Saturday, however, only a few dozen asylum-seekers had arrived from Germany’s southern border and were quickly ushered away by police.

In contrast, hundreds of Oktoberfest revelers – many dressed in traditional Bavarian lederhosen and dirndl dresses – walked from the train station to nearby Theresienwiese, site of the festivities.

Munich police spokesman Simon Hegewald said the situation at the train station was calm and authorities were well prepared. Federal police said the number of asylum-seekers crossing from Austria has declined in recent days to fewer than 2,000 Friday.

Since Germany introduced border controls last weekend, most migrants who enter Germany are taken to the border town of Freilassing, where they are put on buses and trains and distributed across the country. Officials said four more special trains were leaving Freilassing this weekend.

“Life in Munich will go on, and it has gone on for several weeks, despite the massive influx of refugees,” said Linda Benedickt, 43, a writer from Munich. She was not overly fond of Oktoberfest, “because people spend an awful lot of money getting mindlessly drunk, but it is part of the city.”

Marc Reig, 25, of Sallent, Spain, said, “Today and tomorrow we are celebrating, but we aren’t forgetting the refugees.”

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