The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan triggered a migrant riot in the German city of Dresden over the weekend, the local newspapers report. “Around 50 refugees attacked police after they attempted to stop a fight at a migrant center,” German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle confirmed.
These people “gathered and attacked officers by throwing lit cigarettes, then kicking and beating them,” Dresden police said. The fight took place in the courtyard of a refugee shelter with asylum seekers using “knifes, chairs and fire extinguishers” as weapons, a German newspaper reported. Two police officers and a security guard were injured during the riot. Additional police units were called to defuse the situation.
“There have been repeated outbreaks of violence at the refugee shelters [in Dresden]. Police claim these incidents are linked to the Muslim fasting month,” German daily Sächsiche Zeitung reported.
After the rioting in Dresden, some German news outlets came to the defense of the asylum seekers, blaming the recent wave of migrant violence on various factors, including mood swings among hungry Muslim refugees during Ramadan. Fasting “coupled with the summer heat probably increases the stress levels” among asylum seekers, argued the German newspaper Dresdener Neuste Nachrichten.
Dresdener Neuste Nachrichten covered the details of the latest riot:
Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, seems to be the cause behind repeated riots in the refugee admission centers located at the Hamburger and Bremer streets. Though no specific statement can be made about the background of the riots, Dresden police chief Horst Kretzschmar said that “certainly, the Ramadan appears to be the decisive [factor] behind the repeated occurrences.”According to [the city police chief], 11 out of 31 police operation [conducted at these refugee centers] were on the account of violent offences. Ramadan fasting began on May 16 and will end on June 14. Muslims are suppose to eat only after the sunset during this period, this coupled with the summer heat probably increases the stress levels among people residing there.The Refugee Council of Saxony [state in which Dresden is located] criticized the living conditions [at the shelter] after violence erupted on Friday. Estimated 50 asylum seekers had attacked 60 police officers in that incident. [Translation by the author]
This is the second major standoff between the refugees and German police in recent weeks. Earlier this month, some 150 migrants attacked two police patrol cars involved in enforcing a deportation order near the city of Nuremberg. The mob reportedly harassed and punched the officers, forcing them to release the deportees. “They were very aggressive and ordered us to leave the man [behind],” a police officers present at the scene told reporters.
In November 2016, two refugees, known to the public as Mohammed B and Adel D, were arrested for burning down a refugee center in the city of Dusseldorf after authorities failed to provide enough chocolate-spread Nutella, causing nearly $10 million worth of damage.
Germany has suffered from a wave of jihadi terrorism and migrant crime ever since German Chancellor Merkel opened the country’s borders to hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants in the autumn of 2015, predominantly from Arab and Muslim countries. Hundreds of refugee shelters mushrooming across the country have become a focal point for violent migrant gangs and jihadi recruitment. With Chancellor Merkel staying the course on her ill-advised open door migrant policy, Germany’s troubles are not going away anytime soon.
Video: German Chancellor Merkel warns of “new kind of anti-Semitism” from immigrants
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