Police offered help after violent protest

GERMANY’S leading security official has offered to send federal assistance to the eastern state of Saxony after violence at a far-right protest in the city of Chemnitz left at least 18 people injured.

The protest on Monday was sparked by the killing of a 35-year-old German man in an altercation with migrants over the weekend.

It erupted into clashes between neoNazis and left-wing counter-protesters, and opposition parties criticised police for failing to prevent the violence.

“The police in Saxony are in a difficult situation,” interior minister Horst Seehofer said. “Should it be requested, the federal government will provide police support.” He was backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Should Saxony need help to maintain law and order, and to uphold the law, the federal government stands ready,” she said. Saxony’s police chief Juergen Georgie acknowledged authorities had underestimated the size of the protest. Estimates had forecast about 1,000 far-right protesters and half that number of counter-protesters. In the end, 600 officers struggled to prevent 6,000 supporters of the far right from breaking through police lines. JULIA Flores Colque is thought to be the world’s oldest person, with a recorded age of almost 118. Still full of life, the Bolivian woman shares her home in the rural town of Sacaba with her 65-year-old grand-niece.