Merkel condemns hate attacks on migrants
Right-wing vigilante groups have no place in Germany, says chancellor after protests turn violent
ANGELA MERKEL last night said “hate in the streets” has no place in Germany, as she condemned Rightwing anti-immigration vigilante groups attacking foreign migrants. After the fatal stabbing of a German man – named yesterday as Daniel Hillig, a 35-year-old local carpenter of Cuban descent – allegedly by a Syrian and an Iraqi, thousands of protesters marched in the eastern city of Chemnitz for two days, some chasing down people they believed were immigrants.
Police reported assaults by extremists against at least three foreigners, while investigations were opened in 10 cases of protesters performing the Nazi salute, which is illegal in Germany.
“What we have seen is something which has no place in a constitutional democracy,” the German chancellor said. “We have video recordings of [people] hunting down others, of unruly assemblies, and hate in the streets, and that has nothing to do with our constitutional state.”
Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), which is in a governing coalition with Angela Merkel’s party, said “the police in Saxony are in a difficult situation.” He said the federal government will support them if it becomes necessary. An estimated 5,000 far-right protesters clashed with 1,000 counter protesters on Monday evening, as a Syrian, 23, and an Iraqi, 22, remained under arrest on suspicion of stabbing Mr Hillig to death during a fight in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Several people were injured in the disturbances on Monday as protesters on both sides hurled objects at each other. Police are investigating alleged assaults on a Syrian, an Afghan and a Bulgarian.
Burkhard Lischka, an opposition SPD politician in the interior ministry, told the Rheinische Post: “There is a small Right-wing mob in our country that will take every opportunity to enact its violent fantasies of civil war-like conditions on our streets.”
The protests, organised by far-right groups including the Alternative for Germany party (AFD), which has seats in the German parliament, followed a fight on Sunday morning between “a number of people of different nationalities,” during which three men in their thirties were injured. Unconfirmed rumours said the brawl may have started after a woman was harassed in the street.
Oliver Malchow, of the German police union, said there could be more “vigilantes and self justice”. “The police force in Germany is missing 20,000 officers. This is the state’s fault for making cuts to public services,” he said.
Markus Frohnmaier, from the AFD, tweeted that “if the state is no longer able to protect citizens then people take to the streets and protect themselves. It’s as simple as that!”