Far-right group, refugees stage rival rallies in small German city

Rasa - A German city where anti-refugee sentiments run high has witnessed a demonstration and a counter-demonstration to show support for and opposition to the government’s immigration policy.

News ID: 436260

Date: 04 February 2018 - 23:42

RNA - On Saturday, one group in Cottbus held an anti-refugee protest while another, smaller one showed support for the refugee community in the city.

Around two to three thousand anti-refugee protesters rallied under the banner of the right-wing organization “Zukunft Heimat (Future Homeland).”

The group is opposed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration stance.

Demonstrators in the anti-refugee group chanted “Merkel must go.”

Separately, refugees accompanied by local supporters staged a pro-refugee rally to denounce what they said were attempts by far-right groups to stoke tensions.

Hundreds of demonstrators held roses, balloons, and flyers reading “Live without hate.”

Differences over the immigration issue have been highlighted in the city since the turn of the year in a series of incidents involving locals and refugees.

On New Year’s Eve, a group of locals attacked a refugee shelter.

Shortly afterwards, a young Arab refugee was detained after he reportedly attacked a married couple in front of a shopping mall, while a young woman was taken into police custody after an altercation with a Syrian man where she allegedly shouted “Foreigners out!”

Demonstrations by residents opposed to more asylum seekers arriving in Cottbus prompted the Interior Ministry of Brandenburg, the federal state in which Cottbus lies, to stop the intake of refugees by the city.

Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Karl-Heinz Schröter in mid-January decided to stop the flow of refugees to Cottbus until further notice. Schröter said the measure was necessary to ease tensions in the city. “Otherwise the climate will only get worse,” he said.

Meanwhile, police beefed up security in the city of 100,000, where the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) beat Merkel’s conservatives in an election last year by appealing to voters angry with her decision in 2015 to welcome more than a million asylum seekers to the country.

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