MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2018) About 300 people were detained during anti-immigrant rallies that took place in the city of Chemnitz in southeastern Germany, local police said on Saturday.
According to the police, nine people were injured during the rallies. Previously, media reported 11 injured.
According to preliminary data of law enforcement agencies, about 9,500 people attended the rallies under the aegis of various parties and movements on Saturday.
As of 22.30 local time (20.30 GMT), at least 25 illegal actions were registered, in particular, injuries, damage to property, resistance to police officers and the use of symbols of banned organizations. Most violations were recorded in the center of the city.
The police also registered an attack on reporters of the MDR broadcaster and an attack of four masked men on a 20-year-old Afghan national at a distance from the rally.
Since last Sunday, Chemnitz has witnessed a wave of violent anti-immigrant protests after a 35-year-old German had been fatally stabbed. 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.
