Several people were injured Monday as thousands of far-right protesters took to the streets in the eastern German city of Chemnitz where a knife killing, allegedly committed by a Syrian and an Iraqi, sparked racist mob attacks that were deplored by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The right-wing protesters chanted ‘We are the People’ and the Nazi-era term ‘Luegenpresse’ (lying press) while displaying placards that read ‘Stop the refugee flood’ and ‘Defend Europe’, the latter adorned with an image of an automatic rifle.
Some carried banners or insignia of the far-right AfD and neo-Nazi NPD parties and other extremist groups, while a handful delivered the illegal right-handed Hitler salute, police said.
Left-wing counter protesters yelled slogans like ‘Nazis out’ and ‘There’s no right to Nazi propaganda,’ at a larger group of right-wing demonstrators that retorted with ‘We are louder, we are more’ and ‘Lying press.’
Today left-wing and right-wing groups of over a thousand people each confronted each other as riot police stood in between
Right wing demonstrators light flares on August 27, 2018 in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, following the death of a 35-year-old German national who died in hospital after a ‘dispute between several people of different nationalities’
Of the estimated 800 people who took part in the first round of protests, about 50 were involved in violence and attacked police officers with bottles and stones, Chemnitz Police Chief Sonja Penzel said.
A Syrian teenager and an Afghan teenager were attacked in separate incidents but were not seriously hurt and a 30-year-old Bulgarian was also threatened, she said.
Penzel said police are still evaluating video footage and called for any witnesses to the violence to come forward.
Germany has denounced far-right groups ‘spreading hatred on the streets’ after hundreds of followers gathered to protest in the city of Chemnitz on Sunday.
Angela Merkel’s spokesman said he condemns the groups ‘in the strongest possible terms’ after footage emerged of skinheads chasing a man of Arab appearance down the streets and throwing bottles at police.
He added that Germany would not tolerate ‘vigilante justice’.
Officers in riot gear pushed people back as they tried to get at those on the other side. The demonstrators from the right hurled bottles and firecrackers at the rival camp before starting off on a march.
Both groups took to the streets of Chemnitz after a 35-year-old German man was injured during a clash after a street festival and died early Sunday.
Riot police escort a bleeding right-wing supporter during a confrontation with leftists the day after a man was stabbed
Riot police watch right-wing supporters who gathered the day after a man was stabbed in the city
Riot policemen stand guard as the right-wing supporters protest throwing flares in the air and waving the German flag
Jens Lorek, a lawyer for the right-wing Pegida movement, carries away flares thrown during a confrontation between left and right-wing protesters the day after a man was stabbed and died of his injuries
Hundreds of riot police separated the noisy crowd – whose mostly male members were chanting slogans against ‘criminal foreigners’ and waving black-red-gold German national flags – from more than 1,000 anti-fascist counter protesters
Pyrotechnics and other objects hurled from both sides left several people injured and requiring hospital treatment, said police, who moved in water canon and urged the crowds to remain calm
Protesters light fireworks during a far-right demonstration: the mood was highly charged a day after the knife attack early Sunday left a 35-year-old man German man dead and sparked street chaos in which marauding right-wing hooligans assaulted people they believed to be immigrants
Men shout and swear during a right-wing protest in Chemnitz
Angela Merkel’s spokesman condemned far-right groups ‘in the strongest possible terms’ after they urged protesters on to the streets in Chemnitz, where they clashed with police
Police vehicles line up following the death of a 35-year-old man and the arrest of two migrants
People demonstrate next to a statue of Karl Marx in the east German city of Chemnitz
A 22-year-old Iraqi and a 23-year-old Syrian have been arrested and charged with murder.
The stabbing happened around 3.15am on the sidelines of a street festival.
Police have denied rumours that the fight broke out after the alleged sexual harassment of a woman.
Prosecutor Christine Muecke told reporters Monday the slaying stemmed from a verbal confrontation that escalated. Two men were taken into custody – a 22-year-old Syrian citizen and a 21 year-old Iraqi citizen- and both were held on suspicion of manslaughter, Muecke said.
Initially around 100 people gathered after being urged on to the streets by a far-right football group who urged supporters to show ‘who is in charge’.
While that demonstration passed off largely without event, a much larger group of 800 gathered later around a statue of Karl Marx, catching police by surprise.
During the violent demonstrations, marchers chanted ‘we are the people! and ‘this is our city!’
Following the demonstrations, Merkel spokesman Steffan Seibert said: ‘We don’t tolerate such unlawful assemblies and the hounding of people who look different or have different origins and attempts to spread hatred on the streets.
Hundreds of far-right activists demonstrate in front of a Karl Marx statue in Chemnitz
During the violent demonstrations, marchers chanted ‘we are the people! and ‘this is our city!’
Police patrol the protest in front of the statue of Karl Marx
People hold up signs and protest in Chemnitz following the death of a 35-year-old German man
Mostly male right-wing protesters take on police in the eastern German city following the death of a 35-year-old man
‘That has no place in our cities and we, as the German government, condemn it in the strongest terms.
‘Our basic message for Chemnitz and beyond is that there is no place in Germany for vigilante justice, for groups that want to spread hatred on the streets, for intolerance and for extremism.’
Tweeting about Sunday’s incident, AfD politician Markus Frohnmaier said: ‘If the state is no longer to protect citizens then people take to the streets and protect themselves. It’s as simple as that!’
Martina Renner, a lawmaker for the radical Left party, accused the far-right of trying to exploit a murder for its own political ends.
Hundreds of activists gathered in front of a Karl Marx statue after a man died in hospital following a ‘dispute between several people of different nationalities’
The far-right street movement PEGIDA called for a second day of protests in Chemnitz in ex-communist eastern Germany after the alleged fatal stabbing of a German man by a foreigner
Police in Chemnitz are preparing for further demonstrations. They were expected to issue a further statement about Sunday’s incident later on Monday
Police water cannons passes by a far-right protest in front of a Karl Marx monument in Chemnitz
‘A terrible murder, the background to which is still unclear, is being instrumentalised in the most repugnant way for racist riots in Chemnitz,’ she tweeted.
The violence in Chemnitz is likely to put further pressure on Merkel’s conservatives, who last week faced accusations of ignoring the rise of far-right groups in the eastern state of Saxony, where Chemnitz lies.
Almost a quarter of Chemnitz voters supported the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party last year.
Merkel’s decision in 2015 to let in about a million migrants, many fleeing wars in the Middle East, has fuelled support for far-right groups such as PEGIDA and the AfD, now the main opposition party in parliament.
Steffan Seibert, Merkel’s spokesman, said the government will never support ‘vigilante justice’ and groups that want to ‘spread hatred in the streets’
Far-right groups including a local football firm ordered people to protest to show ‘who is in charge’. Demonstrators were later filmed chasing men of Arabic appearance
The anti-Islam PEGIDA movement’s regional chapter, urged people online to come to Monday’s rally and told them to ‘muster strength from anger and sadness! Only together can we ensure that his death was not pointless’ following the death of a 35-year-old man
German police in riot gear patrols around the statue of Karl Marx as right wing protesters gather at the place where a man was stabbed overnight