CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel has broken her silence to condemn violent far-right protests outside a German refugee shelter as thousands more migrants have crossed into Serbia on their way to the EU.
Dozens of police were injured by a neo-Nazi mob hurling bottles and fireworks at officers trying to ensure asylum seekers could move into the shelter in Heidenau, south of Dresden.
Merkel had been criticised over the weekend for failing to speak out swiftly against the attacks.
Her spokesman said: “The chancellor and the entire government condemn in the strongest possible terms the violent attacks and the aggressive anti-foreigner sentiment created there.
“It’s repulsive how far-right extremists and neo-Nazis are trying to spread their hollow message of hatred around a refugee shelter, and it’s shameful how citizens, even families with children, are supporting this spectacle by marching along.”
Hundreds of people took part in a peaceful march outside the repurposed hardware store on Friday evening. But hours later some of the protesters began attacking police who seemed unprepared for the violence.
Dresden police said 35 officers were injured trying to protect the site from neo-Nazi rioters.
By Sunday, when left-wing protesters drawn to Heidenau clashed with neo-Nazis, police had stepped up their presence from 140 to 250 officers.
The interior minister for the state of Saxony, where Heidenau is located, said authorities have put in place special equipment allowing them to check the identities of anyone around the site.
Merkel’s deputy visited Heidenau yesterday. Vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told reporters that the country “cannot give one millimetre of room” to right-wing extremism.
Attacks against asylum seekers in Germany have increased sharply as the country faces a growing stream of people seeking refuge from war and persecution.
Officials say there were some 202 such attacks in the first six months of 2015, as many as during the whole previous year.
The government says it expects 800,000 people to seek asylum in Germany by the end of 2015.
Around 7,000 migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa have crossed from Macedonia into Serbia on their way to the European Union.
The rush came after Macedonia lifted the blockade of its border with Greece, after thousands of migrants stormed past Macedonian police who tried to stop their entry by force.
Migrants were heading for an overcrowded asylum centre in the Serbian border town of
Presevo. After they formally ask for asylum, they have three days to reach the border with EU-member Hungary which is rushing to build a barbed wire fence on its border with Serbia to block the migrants.
From Hungary, most would look to continue further north to richer EU countries, such as
Germany and Sweden.
The increase in migrants in the western Balkans has worried EU politicians and left the Balkan countries struggling to cope with the humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, the EU said yesterday it will not change Europe’s passport-free system of travel.
The decision comes despite pressure to do so amid the thwarted rail attack in France on Friday and a large influx of migrants into the EU.
The Schengen Agreement allows travel without internal border checks between 22 EU member countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
EU Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said “Schengen is non-negotiable and the commission has no intention of changing it”.
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