The fatal stabbing of a German by a group of migrants has triggered riots in the eastern German city of Chemnitz. Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets on Monday night calling for an end to Chancellor Merkel’s open borders policy, media reports say.
Around two thousand right-wing protesters clashed with a thousand left-wing counter-demonstrators on Monday evening, according to German media reports. Earlier, hundreds gathered in the city center on Sunday after a 35 year-old man died after being stabbed at the town fair. Two men, of Syrian and Iraqi origin, were arrested in connection with the killing.
The local newspaper Thüringer Allgemeine covered the clashes on Monday:
Demonstrations held by right- and left-wing protesters in the Chemnitz inner city on Monday evening left at least two people injured. The police didn’t rule out that the number [of causalities] could rise. Fireworks and objects were reportedly hurled. The eyewitnesses talk about an aggressive atmosphere.On Sunday, a spontaneous demonstration that took place after the death of a 35 year-old German at the town fair had turned against immigrants. Bottles and stones were thrown at the police. Video footage in internet show how migrants were attacked and “down right hunted.” [Translated by the author]
In recent years, Germany has witnessed several large demonstrations against the government’s open borders policy, but the level of violence and anger displayed in Chemnitz took the police and politicians by surprise.
Police initially underestimated the public outrage over the killing and was unprepared to handle agitated demonstrators who in their thousands chanted “Merkel must go” and “Close the borders”. “We were shocked by the size of the crowds that passed us by,” Robert Gruner, spokesman for the city of Chemnitz told reporters.
German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that on Monday night “a large contingent of police officers was keeping apart some 1,000 right-wing demonstrators from an equally large nearby group of counter-protesters. However, as the crowds grew increasingly rowdy, protesters from both sides hurled pyrotechnics and other objects at each other, leaving several people injured and requiring hospital treatment.”
Chancellor Merkel condemned the “right-wing violence,” but did not mention the brutal murder that led to the rioting.
Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) also condemned the violence. “The AfD expressly distances itself from any form of violence and expressly warns against participation in the demonstrations that have been called today by the NPD among others,” said AfD leader in the State of Saxony, Jörg Urban.
Since Chancellor Merkel opened Germany’s borders to unregulated migration in the spring of 2015, the country has been hit by a wave of violent crimes and Islamist terror attacks carried out by immigrants.
After a series of deadly stabbings involving migrant attackers earlier this year, Germany’s national police trade union urged Merkel’s government to deport foreign stabbers and introduce new laws against knife crimes. “Young Arabs” are importing a culture of knife violence into the country,” claimed DPoLG, Germany’s national police union. Needless to say, Merkel’s government failed to take any legislative action to stem the surging stabbing epidemic.
The latest round of violence in Chemnitz should come as a wake-up call for Chancellor Merkel and Germany’s ruling political elite who have brought their country on the brink of chaos with their open door immigration policy.
Video: Protests in east German city
[Cover image via YouTube]
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