How Germany struggles to deal with the enormous influx of refugees trying to find shelter in the EU
Ugly scenes from Germany again: First, the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) called for an anti-refugee demonstration on Friday in the small Saxonian town of Heidenau. The alcohol-fueled slogans of “Germany for Germans” and “Foreigners Out!” were bad enough but then the even more radical contingent started building barricades around a facility to house refugees.
When the police moved in, clashes broke out with some protesters pelting police with rocks, bottles and firecrackers. Police used tear gas in an effort to bring the situation under control, and a number of arrests were made.
More violent protests followed on Saturday in which two police officers were injured. Then left-wing activists started staging counter-demonstrations and clashed with the right-wing protesters.
All of this in a small town the size of Sharon, Massachusetts and over desperate people who are trying to escape violence and hatred. Sadly, there have been quite a number of attacks on shelters for asylum seekers in recent months and German government officials have repeatedly spoken out against such actions.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas issued a statement in which he condemned the violence and tweeted:
"We must never tolerate people in our country being threatened or attacked. We must pursue this with the full force of the rule of law."
There has been a fair amount of criticism that German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not herself immediately condemn the violence. On Monday, her spokesman said it was "abhorrent how right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis attempt to spread their idiotic message of hatred around an asylum shelter".
Attacks on asylum seeker accommodation are rising but the neo-Nazis throwing bottles and fireworks in Heidenau belong to a despised minority.
A recent poll revealed 67 percent of Germans were "very worried" by attacks on refugee homes. In another survey 93 percent said it was right to give asylum to those fleeing conflict. And all over the country people have been donating second-hand clothes, toys, and supplies for the refugees.
And the flood of refugees streaming into the European Union shows no sign of abating. On Saturday some 4,400 migrants were rescued from boats off the coast of Libya in a single day.
The numbers are stunning: last week, Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maiziere unveiled a revised estimate of asylum seekers this year. The government had assumed 450,000 would apply in Germany in 2015, more than twice the number last year. It now expects 800,000, almost four times last year’s total.