Fears of ‘second Chemnitz’ as Afghans held over German man’s death
KOETHEN, Germany: Around 2,500 people marched in a farright demonstration in eastern Germany after a German man died following a fight with two Afghans, as officials pleaded for calm to avoid the antiforeigner unrest that has shaken Chemnitz.
Local police and prosecutors said the 22-year- old deceased had suffered acute heart failure after coming to blows with the suspects during a dispute on a playground in the town of Koethen.
The German man’s death was ‘not directly’ linked to the injuries suffered in the brawl, authorities said in a statement. Local media reported that he died in hospital and that he had a pre- existing heart condition.
Prosecutors said one of the Afghan suspects, aged 18, stands accused of causing grievous bodily harm. The other, aged 20, faces charges of causing bodily harm with fatal consequences.
The incident was expected to inf lame anti- migrant tensions, coming just two weeks after the fatal stabbing of a 35-yearold German man in the city of Chemnitz, allegedly by two asylum seekers.
“With emotions running high, we have to resist any attempt to turn Koethen into a second Chemnitz,” the state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, told DPA news agency.
Chemnitz, also located in Germany’s former Communist east, has been rocked by a series of far-right demonstrations that saw participants assault foreignlooking people and shout antiimmigration slurs while some flashed the illegal Nazi salute.
Immediately after news of the latest incident broke, right-wing groups called for an evening ‘mourning march’ in Koethen.
Police estimated the turnout at some 2,500 demonstrators, who dispersed peacefully around 9pm (1900 GMT). Many of the demonstrators waved the German f lag, occasionally shouting ‘ Resistance!’ and ‘ We are the people’.
“Today is a day of grief but we will turn that grief into anger,” one of the speakers told the crowd, according to DPA. A counter-demo by far-left protesters at Koethen’s rail station drew around 200 people.
Mayor Bernd Hauschild, in a Facebook message, urged locals to shun the right-wing demo because he had “information that people prepared to use violence were planning to travel to Koethen in large numbers”.
Bild newspaper said around 100 federal police officers had been sent to Koethen to help keep the peace, after police were criticised for underestimating the scale of the Chemnitz demonstrations.
According to local media the latest incident started when three Afghan men were arguing with a pregnant woman over who was the father of her unborn child.
Two German men then approached the group and the row escalated into a brawl on the playground. The third Afghan was not arrested as he was not believed to have been involved in the fighting. Local residents and politicians placed flowers and candles at the scene.
State interior minister Holger Stahlknecht said on Twitter that he deeply regretted ‘ the tragic death’ and understood citizens’ concerns. But he urged residents to ‘keep calm’ and let justice run its course. — AFP