GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned recent anti-migrant demonstrations as “hateful”, saying there is “no excuse” for expressions of hate, Nazi sympathies or violence.

She was speaking after the killing of a German man – for which an Iraqi and a Syrian have been arrested – prompted days of anti-migrant protests in the eastern German city of Chemnitz that at times turned violent.

Neo-Nazis were seen giving Hitler salutes in the largest demonstration, the day after the killing, which attracted 6,000 people, and on the sidelines of the protest masked men threw stones and bottles at a kosher restaurant yelling “Jewish pig, get out of Germany”.

The day before, in spontaneous protests by hundreds immediately after the killing, several foreigners were attacked and injured in the streets.

Merkel said she was working with “all resolution” on the issue.