At least six people have been injured after bottles and fireworks were thrown during a far-right protest in the eastern German city of Chemnitz.
German news agency DPA yesterday reported that Chemnitz police acknowledged having mobilized too few officers for the demonstration on Monday night, which erupted into clashes between neo-Nazis and left-wing counterprotesters.
The far-right protest was sparked by the death on Sunday of a 35-year-old German man following a violent altercation with several other men. Two other men were injured. A 22-year-old Syrian and a 21-year-old Iraqi have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Hundreds of police officers on Monday night worked to keep right-wing and left-wing demonstrators apart in Chemnitz.
About 1,000 left-wing protesters yelled slogans such as “Nazis out” and “There’s no right to Nazi propaganda” at a group of right-wing demonstrators about double in number. They retorted with “We are louder, we are more” and “Lying press.”
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 through Chemnitz.
The police said the leftist protesters responded in kind.
The city’s police department reported on Twitter that several people were treated for injuries, but gave no details.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews condemned the violence, calling it a “civic duty to stand against the right-mob.”
“It must never again be accepted in Germany that people are attacked because of their statements or their background,” council president Josef Schuster said.
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 come forward.
Ahead of the Monday night protests, authorities vowed not to let the situation get out of hand. City police had water cannons on hand.
“We will not abandon the streets to violent offenders and those spreading chaos,” Saxony State Interior Minister Roland Woeller said.
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, strongly condemned Sunday’s violence.
“There is no place in Germany for vigilantism, for groups that want to spread hatred on the streets, for intolerance and racism,” Seibert said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number