Eleven People Injured During Anti-Immigrant Protests In Germany's Chemnitz - Reports

Eleven People Injured During Anti-Immigrant Protests in Germany's Chemnitz - Reports

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2018) At least 11 people were injured over the last day in anti-immigrant rallies in the city of Chemnitz in southeastern Germany, local media reported Saturday.

All those injured were taken to hospitals. the Bild tabloid reported, citing city officials.

Currently, all public events in the city have been officially stopped, but the police had to use water cannons to disperse the participants of the anti-immigrant demonstration.

According to the publication, the crowd for a long time chanted "Resistance!" and "Merkel must leave!" There were clashes between demonstrators and policemen.

In total, about 8,000 people took part in street protests on Saturday in Chemnitz, local police said. About 4,500 participants gathered an anti-immigrant demonstration organized by the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the PEGIDA anti-Islamic movement, joined by the For Chemnitz movement. About 3,500 people participated in the Heart Instead of Hatred action, supported by a number of German lawmakers from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), as well as from Die Linke and the Greens parties.

The police also used force against left-wing street protesters who were trying to block their opponents' way. According to the Bild, there were militants of the so-called Black Block with masked faces among the leftist activists.

The Black Block members are accused by the German authorities of organizing riots at the G20 summit in Hamburg.

Since last Sunday, Chemnitz has witnessed a wave of violent anti-immigrant protests after a 35-year-old German was fatally stabbed and two alleged perpetrators, an Iraqi and a Syrian, were promptly arrested on suspicions of murder.

Late on August 26, hundreds of people gathered at an uncoordinated demonstration in the center of Chemnitz, prematurely terminating the city holiday. Right-wing radicals, who shouted threats against migrants, took part in the rally. On Monday, two more protests took place in the center of Chemnitz - an anti-fascist rally and a demonstration of the For Chemnitz movement uniting the right-wing radicals, which was formed after the Sunday murder. They demanded the immediate deportation of all illegal immigrants from the territory of Germany. The rallies continued throughout the week.

Starting 2015, Germany took in several million refugees as part of what German Chancellor Angela Merkel called an "open-door policy" amid the European migration crisis. Ever since, multiple reports have attributed responsibility for gruesome murders and rape cases to immigrants and asylum-seekers living in Germany, provoking a vigorous public outcry over Merkel's immigration policy and igniting a surge of far-right and nationalistic sentiments.