Germans urged to get up, fight racism

CHEMNITZ, Germany — Germany’s foreign minister told his fellow countrymen Sunday they’re too lazy when it comes to battling racism and fighting for democracy.

“We have to get off the couch and open the mouth,” Heiko Maas said in an interview with weekly Bild am Sonntag. “Our generation was given freedom, rule of law and democracy as a present. We didn’t have to fight for it; [now] we’re taking it too much for granted.”

Maas’ comments were made after Saturday’s demonstrations by about 4,500 far- right protesters in Chemnitz, who were rallying against migration a week after a German was killed in the eastern city, allegedly by two migrants from Iraq and Syria. Around 4,000 leftist protesters also marched through the city in a counter-protest, and 1,800 police officers were deployed to keep the groups apart.

Eighteen people, including three police officers, were injured during the rallies, which at times were very tense, especially after police ended a march of the far-right groups early.

After the rallies were over, small groups clashed with each other, police reported.

Far-right activists and leftist groups had already clashed in Chemnitz last Monday, a day after the 35-year-old German man’s death. Scenes of vigilantes chasing foreigners in the city’s streets have shocked people in other parts of Germany since then.

The tension that has built up over the past week in Chemnitz, reflects the growing polarization over Germany’s ongoing effort to come to terms with an influx of more than 1 million refugees and migrants seeking jobs since 2015.

Today, thousands of people are expected to travel to Chemnitz again. This time, however, it is to visit a free open air concert that has been quickly organized by some of the country’s most popular bands as a stand against far-right nationalism and anti-migrant prejudice.