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.
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